Finding oneself
by abc27
Summary: Sasuke maybe getting paranoid, he decides cause he met a guy who literally has the same voice as him. And, a true tsundere and an annoying Matou weren't helping. Not to mention the weird priest. And, it was established that whoever had gold was strong. Rated T for now. May change it to M. (NOT a Harem fic. But, there will be pairings.)
1. Prologue

**(AN)** Sorry, I just had to get this into a chapter. This idea has been floating in my head for so long that I couldn't ignore it anymore. So, what you see here is a little experimentation of the idea I had. The theme may have been repeated, but I had to post it.

Sasuke participating in the Fifth Holy Grail War. If you don't like the idea, then you might want to turn away. I'll work on the next chapter depending on the feedback.

So, anyway... on with the chapter.

* * *

 **(((Finding oneself)))**

'By making revenge your goal, he hoped to make you strong…'

'My foolish little brother…'

'He wanted you to keep believing that Uchiha was a proud clan of the leaf…'

'You really have gotten stronger… Sasuke.'

'He accepted disgrace in the place of honor and hate in place of love… and despite that, he died with a smile on his face.'

'Forgive me, Sasuke… but this is it…'

A shrilling sound pierced his ears. Onyx eyes opened slowly, blinking a couple of times to get adjusted to the bright light in his room, before slowly focusing on the device beside him. He groaned a bit before bringing his hand down in a lazy move and slamming it onto the alarm to rid the annoying buzzing sound. Then, he slowly pushed himself up off the bed, and ran his hand through his messy spikes before shooting a look through his bangs at the clock.

It read 6:25 am as he looked around at the small and simple room he was residing at, before leaving the bed and picking up the crumpled shirt off the floor near one of its legs. Throwing the shirt into the pile of clothes set for washing, he picked up a fresh set of shirt and pant from his cupboard.

He then gave a long stretch of his arms and yawned, before dreading himself with the routine that he has been doing for a while now.

He scratched his head, staring absently at the gross circular symbol that lay in the center of the hall. The previous tenant had rather weird artistic skills, he jested. His focus shifted back at the clock, looking at the led time before charcoal eyes turned to a simple necklace that lay beside the digital device. He stared at the ornament for a few silent moments before shifting his gaze away.

"...Guess I'll have to go today as well."

He almost sighed, for which he had a very good reason.

 **(((Finding oneself)))**

Walking down the streets, Sasuke watched a few students from Homurahara School walking down the same lane as him. Of course, since this was one of the larger lanes and the main route to Homurahara school - the school that he attended. The students were busy talking among themselves, probably excited about the beginning of a new day or some trivial gossip. Seeing them all excited about the robotic kind of life they led, and mushy always felt a bit weird to Sasuke.

No matter how many times he had taken this road, and watched the same identical faces socialize with each other.

It felt out of place for him, given that he was always a loner to begin with. Or, probably he was the one that felt out of place. He seriously didn't understand what was there to be so joyous about attending an academic institution. From what he had experienced so far, he had only been facing problems since his arrival at this school last fall.

He was busy judging the social lives others led that he slightly cringed when he suddenly heard giggling and whispers from a group of girls. They apparently were not so behind him. That immediately halted his train of thought, and he didn't even need to guess their reason for the pointless giggling. It was because of him.

Like he had been thinking, this was the biggest hurdle of his school life so far.

He had somehow managed to accumulate a horde of personal stalkers just by ignoring them. For some reason, that made them think he was cool and made them even more persistent. Which was odd and confusing because he couldn't relate this kind of pattern to anything else. But, at least they still hadn't physically assaulted him.

So, for now, he had his privacy intact though he wasn't sure if it would be that way for long. Sooner or later, some girl might actually wind up the courage and approach him. And that would only be the beginning of something he was not looking forward to.

That was why he always chose to go over early and still a few dedicated girls managed to follow him. Even at this early hour. Seriously, who got to school this early, that too before an hour of its opening time. Didn't they have other important tasks like flaunting over themselves in the mirror?

He sighed as he walked around the corner, and stopped at the crossing on seeing the red light, as a small crowd gathered. As he waited patiently for the green color, he heard a couple of students beside him talk about some game that has been released yesterday. For some reason, most of the boys of his age liked to play, and talk about the games. It was sort of a norm for boys while girls liked, and discussed things regarding clothing, ornament, and stuff that helped them beautify their exterior.

He idly wondered if something was wrong with him for not being able to follow with the 'trend' that was going on. Was he the only one that saw all that discussion as a waste of time? Was he always like this? Or, was it some sort of deviance from the life he led before he lost himself?

Did he also talk stuff like that with his friends? Or, the question to be asked was - did he, in fact, have any...?

There was no way for knowing if he did, or didn't. Because, when he had woken up in the hospital, he found himself alone with no one by his side. The nurse had hurried and brought the doctor immediately when she saw him trying to rid himself of the saline injects. The doc had persuaded him then, and asked his name and tried to contact his family or friends, but it seemed like he didn't have any. There were no records of his name as well in the database.

But the doc seemed kind enough because it probably reminded the old doctor something bad that happened to someone he knew. Probably a relative or a family friend who met a similar injury as Sasuke, but weren't so fortunate.

Whether Sasuke was fortunate or not, depended on how one would define the definition. According to Sasuke, being stabbed in the heart and knocked on the head so bad would not count as being fortunate, as one would normally not have those things happen to them in the first place.

But, Sasuke was allowed to walk away without paying anything, with the doc's help of course. And, the doc still tried to stay in touch with him like occasionally calling him, and asking him if he was doing alright.

He didn't know how to feel, or what to do back then. But, the only things that kept him moving forward were his broken dreams and a promise.

The light turned green as Sasuke walked blending with the crowd, keenly observing his surroundings, the people and the vehicles that had stopped. He wrote off this strange behavior as some peculiar habit that had been ingrained into his mind. Like something bad would happen as soon as he would let his guard down. Just a silly habit, but maybe he was always paranoid, to begin with.

And, since he was already keenly observing his surroundings, he did not feel the need to act surprised when one of the most annoying people he met tried to pat him on the back. Nevertheless, he allowed himself to be patted as the short and primp boy stepped to his side.

"I would say, stop trying to steal girls from me, but you would simply ignore me again," The blue haired guy grinned, wrapping an arm over his shoulder and ignored the slight twitch of Sasuke's brow. "I do not get how you manage to do it. You do not even try."

"I never cared for about that," The last Uchiha turned towards the short guy, nodding at him and greeting out of formality. "Matou."

"Matou again? I thought I told you to call me Shinji, remember?" The guy put on a face, but Sasuke could tell he was just trying to entice a reaction from him.

Sasuke idly wondered if a curse had been placed on him by fate that always made Shinji run into him every other day. He knew that Shinji also had to get up early since he was the vice president of the archery club. He had seen them occasionally hold practice sessions at the dojo, early in the morning.

He closed his eyes as they continued walking down the road, "I don't remember being friendly enough to be calling first names, Matou." That guy only tried to be polite and befriend Sasuke, since he was also one of the popular kids at the school. "So, I would like it if you remove your arm from me. It would give others the wrong impression."

"You really haven't changed even a bit in these last six months," Shinji twisted his mouth into a smile. He wasn't fazed by Sasuke's rudeness, probably because he was already used to it. But, he complied as he removed his arm from him. "I swear I don't know what the chicks see in you. All I see is an arrogant and brooding guy like he is carrying the fate of the entire world or something."

"And, all I see is an overconfident and spoiled brat that could learn a lesson or two from his sister."

"Ever the snide remarks, I see," He did not let Sasuke's comment get to him. "…Or, could it be that you are actually stalking Sakura behind my back, eh?"

That name felt eerily familiar to the Uchiha for reasons unknown, just like one of the ramen toppings they served here. But, the Sakura Shinji was referring to wasn't the one that felt familiar. It was only in name.

"I am just observant, that is all," Sasuke said stopping at the front gate. Letting other students see him socialize with Shinji in school may be beneficial for Shinji, but not for him. They were acquaintances at best. "Now, if you'll excuse me. Don't you have another person to annoy?"

Shinji did not understand what he meant for a moment but got what he implied after looking around a bit when he noticed the ever so beautiful Tohsaka leaving from the archery dojo. His face was lit up for obvious reasons as he left Sasuke's side, "Of course. See you later, Sasuke!"

"Hn." Sasuke just walked along as Shinji ran, and confronted the said pigtailed, brown-haired girl just as she was about to enter the main building. He walked past those both after a few moments, and passed the entrance, not before noticing the irritated expression that Tohsaka was desperately trying to hide out of politeness. He may have imagined but he thought he saw her glare at him for a brief moment. Possibly cursing him for pointing her whereabouts to Shinji.

Well, what happens between her and Shinji was least of his concerns. He set aside his shoes in his locker and started walking up the stairs when he heard a loud cry of Shinji from downstairs. He smirked despite himself, probably thinking that Tohsaka probably decided to stop being polite at last and gave him a piece of her mind.

After getting into his class with a relatively better mood, the students began showing up and greeted each other with enthusiasm. Few of them even tried to greet him, but he was busy staring out of the window and lost in his thoughts to really care. It wasn't before long the class filled up and the overly enthusiastic homeroom teacher entered and began teaching. Sasuke again didn't really pay any attention to what was taught, as the clouds seemed far more interesting to him than what Fujimura sensei taught.

It was pointless studying all that, he felt. And, still, he had one of the best scores in his year.

He was already very good at Japanese. Math, he felt pointless and English came to him naturally. History was just plain boring to him and he curb stomped everyone for some reason in PE.

In fact, his PE teacher had been so impressed with him that he proposed to mentor him personally for finding his ideal sport and help him excel in order to win prizes and awards on a national level. Upon Sasuke's immediate rejection, he just tried convincing again. But, when Sasuke stayed impassive and did not show even an ounce of interest, he had muttered something along the lines as a complete waste of talent.

Well, his PE teacher wasn't completely wrong. He did feel that every other student was considerably weaker than him and had less stamina than him. But, that only increased his popularity among the girls seeing as he had rejected a proposal from their famous PE teacher, who was a big shot in his younger days.

Girls thought it was cool for some reason. To them, this totally uncaring attitude only made him more want-able.

This made him sigh heavily at the thought, earning an odd look from his shared voice buddy that sat behind him. This was bad. It was only morning in time, and he was already sighing and already exhausted. Made him question literally why he bothered to attend today.

 **(((Finding oneself)))**

It was a monotone process as the bell rang and teachers shifted and taught the same thing again and the whole process repeats, Sasuke felt as he stopped at the vending machine outside the building. Popping in some coins, he pressed the red button labeled 'coke' and picked up the can, as he glanced at the entrance of the club not far from him.

With its doors always open, and situated outside the main building due to the activities held by it. The archery club.

Archery club was one of the few clubs he hadn't touched since his entry into this institution. Probably because Sasuke did not want a repeat of what happened with the Kendo club. To this day, the male members of the Kendo club still give him a dirty eye whenever he entered their sight. He probably should have held back on them when he gave his trails...

And knowing that Shinji was a key member of the Archery club, he did not even want to imagine what would happen if he had tried out for this club.

He knew he was always good with a bow and arrow. Probably because he trained a lot when he was younger, or he was ridiculously good because of his dormant talent. The latter reason would mean that he was a true prodigy. But, he did not feel the need to enroll in it or demonstrate his abilities. Because honestly, he didn't know how that skill could be useful in the peaceful society that they were living in currently.

The society that consisted of much more dangerous weapons than bow and arrow like guns, grenades.

He took a sip as saw a young girl with purple hair, clad in a kimono kind of dress that the archery club wore, walk towards the vending machine. He moved away from the machine without her saying anything, and gave her way to use it. The girl got into his previous spot, and popped a few coins and helped herself with a drink.

She then bowed slightly and gave a silent thanks, before going back to the archery club.

Sasuke wordlessly watched as she headed back into the archery club in short steps, and was no longer visible to him.

That girl was Matou Sakura. With such politeness and humility, and the kind smile she sported on her face, Sasuke had a hard time imagining her as Shinji's sister. Well, whatever he thought. It wasn't exactly uncommon for siblings to be total opposites of each other.

He shrugged, before deciding to be on his way as he was already getting late by 30 minutes. He blamed it mostly on Shinji this time for his lack of time sense, seeing as he managed to get a hold of him again since they were in the same class. He was whining like an idiot about how he would take revenge on Tohsaka for humiliating him in front of everyone.

Sasuke had wanted to point out that it was Shinji's own fault, and many students had not witnessed his apparent humiliation but decided against it.

He was already late for his part-time job and was already getting migraines of his very angry manager.

He worked at many places, like fast food centers and the one where he had to go now was a postal office. His duty was to care of the incoming packages and sort it out for the delivery man to take it later.

It was monotone and totally uninteresting, he knew. But, he had no complaints regarding the job, as it allowed him to get through the whole month. The pay was good enough too, there really wasn't any point complaining.

But, he just didn't know how much his fate would change because of this unexpected tardiness on that particular day.

In the hindsight, Sasuke probably should have thanked Shinji.

 **(((Finding oneself)))**

Tohsaka Rin decided her day couldn't get any worse.

First, she woke up early because for some reason all the clocks in her house had been reset to an hour early. As a result, she arrived at the school an hour early, which wasn't like her at all. Then as if fate decided to mock her, Shinji somehow got whiff of her early arrival and found her, which she found quite annoying.

And, finally the man she hated the most decided to call her today of all days… well, left a voice mail to be exact. But, still hearing his voice was enough to make her entire demeanor from partially cheery to sullen. That man wasn't exactly evil… but she just didn't feel comfortable enough around him, as he always sent shivers down her spine whenever they were in the same room.

He was also the one to teach her magecraft after her father passed away ten years ago. Still, she could never stand him. Because that man wasn't able to protect her father after promising that he would to her. He failed to uphold his promise. That was unforgivable in her books, as it also left her mother devastated.

Still, since he was an overseer in this war, she supposed she could hear what he had to say. Still dreading about it, she pressed the button almost involuntarily and allowed his message to be processed.

"It's me."

That was just like him to start a conversation. She looked off to her side as she slightly clenched the bag in her hand and prepared herself as the message continued.

"As I am sure you are aware, tomorrow is the deadline, Rin. I insist that you start taking this seriously soon." She just stared with no expression at the landline as the message paused for a bit to let her think about it. "Only three openings remain; the knight classes – the Archer, Saber, and Lancer classes. The ranks of the masters should be filled without delay."

Of course, she knew that. Since she was the heir of the Tohsaka household after all. She also felt like it was her responsibility to fulfill her father's wishes he had for the grail. Since it was the least she could do to honor her father and his name. Plus, it had always been the dream of the Tohsaka house to win the grail... the dream that had been left unfulfilled for so long.

"Summon your servant and establish your command spells immediately." The message seemed to order. "Of course, if you do not wish to participate in the Holy Grail war, that is a different matter. If you value your life, seek shelter with the church-"

She cut the line and didn't allow the message to be completed. She scoffed lightly, thinking he was just plain mocking her now, "I know what I have to do. You don't need to tell me."

She felt a burning sensation at that moment like something was engraving onto her right wrist, which she did not bother looking down to confirm. It was the command spells, something that identifies her as a master and one of the participants in the coming Holy Grail war.

 **(((Finding oneself)))**

"Since you were pretty late, I suggest you take up the responsibility and hand this package personally. Right now!" The short old man ordered.

Sasuke could only frown at that. "Come on, I already worked for an extra hour to make up for it." He said and looked around to get his point across. Most of the staff had already left and gone home. "Are you sure you aren't pushing it onto me since you have no else to deliver it for you at the moment?"

"Shut up!" The manager hated whenever the kid seemed to get smart and cocky. "Just take this package to the address on it, will ya? It is very important that they reach this at the earliest. Do you understand?"

Sasuke just sighed. It seemed like he had no other choice. "Fine."

The old guy handed a casket-sized brown parcel to Sasuke and warned in a stern tone, "Remember! Misplacing this package will cost you your job! Tread this carefully!"

"I will," Sasuke said taking it in his own hands. He saw multiple stamps all across the brown package. Probably was an international package, and got here from another country. That was why his usually bitchy manager was being even bitchier and was constantly stressing on the need to deliver it immediately. He was tempted to say deliver it on your own, but decided against it and left the place without sparing a glance at the address.

He only got to check the address after reaching outside under the street lights, and he couldn't believe his luck. "Again?" He groaned.

Or, misfortune…

This must be like the nth time he was going to meet Shinji in a day alone. Because the package read 'To Matou Zouken,' and the address of Matou residence was specified. Which appeared to be far away from his place.

It was already late night, close to twelve and he wasn't in the mood to take it that prick's house, seeing that idiotic smug of his again. Even if it was addressed to that particular idiot's grandfather.

"I suppose I could just hand it to him in the school tomorrow." He mumbled, before deciding to go in his house's direction instead. He went to the sub, and boarded the train that was supposed to take him to his home, and got down at his stop. The rest of the journey to his apartment was by walk.

Stuffing his hands into the pockets of his long black coat, he let out a chilly breath. It was starting to get cold around the area, and he guessed that winter was probably around the corner. A drink might help him.

Of course, he couldn't let his school know of this, since he was still underage, and would probably be stripped of the scholarship with which he was enrolled. Attendance was also checked when issuing the scholarship, so in a way, he was forced to attend it... almost daily.

And, speaking of drinking, his phone began to ring suddenly, playing rock music.

He took it out of his breast pocket, and a frown made it to his face as he stopped walking and read the number. It was the drunk doc… again.

The doc had been doing this occasionally, where he would inquire how he had been doing. And, then he would rant like how an old person behaves and tries to preach to him. But, Sasuke supposed he could listen to the doc, who let him off the hook and even helped him register his identity ever since he woke up in the hospital.

He was also the one who enrolled him into this school, by allowing him to take up the test. Sasuke supposed he was more than in debt to the doc.

Another ring went by, as he sighed and picked up the call. He waited for a moment, before talking into the receiver, "...Hello?"

"Ah… and here I was afraid you were gonna hang up like usual!"

Sasuke continued walking, "You know I have never hung up on you, doc."

"Just joking, just joking… Geez, learn to take a joke, young man."

His brow twitched slightly. While the doc had always been kind and friendly, he always tried to tease him about the need to loosen up. The doc liked to see himself as his guardian, while Sasuke had never asked him to. On any day, he probably would have felt grateful about that…

But, lately, the nightmares he had been having made his whole mood sour for most of the time. He had been getting repeated flashes of a woman with long black hair, and a stout, stern man with black hair. And, their dead and slashed bodies lying over one another…

He had no doubt that they were probably his parents… or, his aunt and uncle given the resemblance. That was the reason he tried to focus on the most trivial things, to take his mind off that particular and gruesome images.

That little reminder he had again, made his already sour mood to even more bitter. He was in no mood for a cheery chat. "Tell me, why did you call?"

"Why are you so edgy…? Had a fight with your girlfriend?" The older voice joked from the other side.

His burrows folded even more. "If it is nothing, then I am hanging…"

"No!" The voice on the other end said quickly, causing Sasuke to raise his eyebrows slightly. "You are probably upset about something. I shouldn't have pried. Sorry. I… just called… because…"

Sasuke waited but received no reply for a few seconds. Which was quite unlike the doc. "…What happened?" He asked, changing his voice to a more softer tone.

"…And here I thought you didn't like showing any kind of emotion because you think of it as a weakness."

Sasuke ignored that little jab, "No, what happened?"

"…"

"…"

He heard the old man sigh heavily on the other end, "…you know that I think of you as my son, right?" The doc said, at last, trying to mask his concern with a lighthearted tone.

The doc was probably drinking if brought that up. He was probably thinking about his lost son...

The doc had already told him the story of how he lost his family ten years ago, over a drink. The old doctor had gone upstate for some conference, leaving his family behind. He only had his son with him and left him in his maid's care, his wife having passed many years ago. A serial murderer was on the prowl then but wasn't caught as many more strange things were happening in the town back then.

The serial killer's targets were mainly women and children. His son was also one of his victims, his body mutated beyond recognition in a forest, near a castle. His maid's body was found in his mansion.

This was shortly before what the doc called 'The dark period' the town ever saw, with many thousands dying later in a catastrophic event which no one knew how it happened to this day.

That was right, the doc said his son died probably around this time, ten years ago. So, that was why…

"…if he was alive, he would have been your age now."

Sasuke didn't need to know who the doc was talking about. He had probably called to check up on him, to reaffirm if he was still alive, living somewhere. Safe and sound... unlike what happened to his son.

Sasuke's bitterness was slowly fading away, and he found himself saying, "Thank you, doc."

"What are you thanking me for, young man? You are the one who is making it happen on all on your own! I just did what any responsible old man might have done…!" The old voice tried to mask indifference and tried to change the subject. "You are getting soft, Sasuke. But, maybe it's because of your girl. If so, be sure to send her my thanks."

"…I will."

"Right… wait!? Does that mean you really-"

"Goodbye, doc." Sasuke cut off the line before the doc decides to meddle into his non-existent romantic life. But, still… it felt nice to have someone to talk to sometimes. Even if the doc was annoying sometimes.

He opened the lock of his apartment and went in, closing the door behind him. On switching on the lights, he came face to face with the weird design that took a majority of his floor.

The owner said that the police had decided to draw it with chalk, what was previously supposed to be drawn with human blood. Then, one of the previous tenants decided to make it permanent with graffiti and as a result, it was left that way.

He couldn't really complain much since that previous crime scene was what allowed him to get this place for cheap. The same crime scene, whose murderer was the one who took the life of the doc's son. This place, his apartment was apparently another one of the psychopath's crime scenes.

If Sasuke didn't know any better, he would have tried to hunt this mass murderer down as a way of repaying his debt to the doc. But, it was stated in the news that the murderer was also found dead on a bridge, with a bullet shot to the gut and to the head. Ten years ago. Apparently, someone had given this maniac his due karma.

 _'In the same way, I should be going after the man in my dreams...'_

The last Uchiha winced as a flash of red flashed before his eyes at that thought, the pain suddenly chorusing through his entire body. He placed his left palm over his left eye, as his legs suddenly gave away, bringing him to his knees right in the middle of the circle. He felt the same stinging pain again in his eyes, as he again began seeing a series of images again of dead people completely loitered around in a compound, alley, and streets.

The package dropped from his arms, as he clenched his right arm, digging his fingers into the palms of his hand. He was clenching so tightly that, if his nails were a bit sharper, they would have drawn blood by now.

If only he knew what happened to him! If only he knew what happened to his parents and who his dream's psychopath was! If only… he remembered everything… he wouldn't have to go through the death of people closer to him...!

That was when the grail decided to select the sixth master for the Holy Grail war. His desperate pleas were heard.

Sasuke suddenly felt like someone was burning and imprinting something on the back of his right hand, as he watched through the stinging pain in his eyes. Three red dots appeared, shaped to chase after each other appear in a circle on the back of his hand.

He momentarily forgot the stinging pain in his eyes, as he gripped his right hand, just below the wrist tightly with his left hand.

"What the…!"

* * *

 **(AN)** That's it for the first chapter. And, by the way, the 8th episode of Fate/Apocrypha was LIT! If you haven't watched it, do watch it.


	2. Meeting the Priest

**(AN)** Well, I am glad that people liked the prologue. I can only hope that you guys like this chapter as well. I'll have to get around to make time for my other fic... well, I'll have to wait and see.

Anyway, continuing on with this chapter...

* * *

 **(((Finding oneself)))**

In a span of ten seconds, a lot has happened to Sasuke.

He was staring at his hand, ignoring the throbbing pain and heightened vision he suddenly obtained. He was so busy panicking on what was happening to him, that he didn't notice how everything felt so… clear to him.

He could pick up the tiniest details of the markings that had appeared on his hand, how the follicles stood out on his arm. How his blood was chorusing violently through his vein, all rushing to the marked tattoos as if it were the epicenter.

Or, was it something else?

Blood wasn't supposed to be in blue color, nor was everything supposed to be inverted in color…

Then, he made the mistake of looking up and saw his reflection in the mirror. He saw a panicky Sasuke staring back at him, with blood shot eyes as if some devil had decided to possess his body and was showing the signs of possession through the tomoe and the red plasma. As if he were a vampire or a devil who only roamed at this hour of the night…

His breathing quickened, his pupils dilated and sweat started forming on his pale skin. He struggled to breathe as a lot of cluster shit was happening to him, that he wasn't able to comprehend and think rationally anymore. The series of images also started showing up as if to worsen the situation, and he started feeling an unbearable pain in his chest.

Breathing raggedly, he clutched his black jacket just above his heart and for a moment or two, pain started gushing through his entire body and then, everything went still. He felt his eyelids close against his will, as his body descended freely and fell flat. His face lay right at the center of the markings under him, and he let out one last shaky breath before passing out.

 **(((Finding oneself)))**

At the same time Sasuke was having a minor (massive) breakdown upon seeing the command spells, another master was actually preparing for the war upon seeing them. Though, she was just bound to some shitty luck as all her clocks had again changed, and reset to an hour late this time.

After a lot of effort in clearing up the area in the basement, Rin wiped the sweat and dust of her brow. A grin showed itself on her face, feeling proud of all the effort she had put up. Resting her left hand on her hip, she stared down at the already prepared summoning circle that her father had used in the previous war.

"Preparations, ready."

She glanced at the faulty clock on the table, which were supporting few of the old documents of her father.

"Time, good."

She then checked the pulse of the magic circuits in her arms, ticking it off as well.

"Wavelength, ideal." She, then started walking towards the center of the circle, "By performing the summoning at 2 AM, when my mana's at its peak, I'll get Saber even without a catalyst."

Getting Saber was the best chance of winning in a grail war, since Saber was the believed to be the strongest class. Of course, there were records where servants from other classes have won the Holy Grail war, but for most of the cases, Saber class servants have prevailed. Whether they actually managed to have their wishes granted was another thing.

She clenched various colored crystals in her fist that she gathered over the years exactly for this purpose. Pouring some of her magic energy into her fist, caused the crystals to melt and she started pouring it into the summoning circle.

She then began the chant for the Holy Grail with the setup almost flawlessly complete, "For the essence, silver and steel. For the foundation, gems and archduke of contracts. For the ancestor, my great master, Schweinorg…" The circle underneath her began glowing in emerald color. "Close the cardinal gates, be bound to the circle and follow the three columns of the Sephirot to descend from the Crown to the Kingship. Fill and lock, fill and lock, fill and lock, fill and lock, fill and lock…"

The light only brightened with each repeat of the last verse, brightening the dark and old basement.

"Repeat five times. But those moments should be ceased to be once passed." The color changed to reddish orange now. "Set. Hereby propose. Your fealty shall be mine, and my fate shall be yours. If you heed the Grail's call and obey my will and reason, then answer me. I hereby swear that I shall be all the good in the world. That I shall repress all the evil in the world."

Pulses of red magic started to dance from the floor, matching her own red sweater she sported. "One of the seven heavenly beings bearing the three great words of power, come forth from the cycle that shackles you… Guardian of scales!"

The result she expected wasn't pretty, because as soon as she opened her eyes, the red energy that was dancing above her head went crazy and shot through the entire basement going berserk.

She was seen panting on her knees, as the smoke cleared. After catching her breath, she caught her wrist, and stared at the command spells with delight and glee.

"That was flawless! I certainly drew the most powerful card!" She, then immediately turned her head to be greeted with the sight of her loyal servant, a Saber class servant. But, to her confusion, there wasn't anyone down with her in the basement, let alone a servant. "Huh?"

Then, her whole house rocketed, shaking with tremors as if something crashed into her building. She immediately ran upstairs, cursing her luck.

"Why does it always happen to me?!"

She realized she cursed herself too soon as she found her door to be jammed. "Why?!" Despite looking like a hime, a noble girl from a rich family, she sure packed a wallop as she kicked down the door but not without some effort.

"Damn it!" Breaking the door, she arrived into her hall and was met with the sight of a white haired man, clad in red dress sitting in a makeshift throne made from her mashed furniture.

He simply opened his eyes, and looked at her impassively. Then, a grin appeared on his face as he closed his one eye.

Rin just looked at him with narrowed and suspicious eyes, before glancing at the central clock in her house behind him.

"Wait, all the clocks in the house were an hour fast! Today of all days!? That means that it is 1 am now, not 2 am… Damn, I messed up again!" She gripped her hair and sat down, turning away from the man.

All her planning, all her preparation… was wasted. Damn it!

Well, no use crying over spilt milk, she decides. But, why did her father have to leave this to her?

Sighing in defeat, she turned towards the man, "Well, what are you supposed to be?"

"That's the first thing you say to me?" The man seemed surprised, which quickly turned into a look of amusement. "Yare, yare… seems like I have been drawn by an outrageous master indeed. Good grief!" He lazily waved his arm in air to show his so called 'grief'. "Or, was it I who drew the short stick?"

Tohsaka clicked her tongue. This servant didn't look like a Saber, but it was difficult to say which class he was without his weapon. And, he had a despicable attitude, she decides. One who wasn't going to simply follow her, unless subdued by force.

She sighed again. This was going to be a long night.

 **(((Finding oneself)))**

After a waste of a command spell, and some guidance/scolding she received from her servant, they had managed to reach some sort of truce. The most important fact was that he acknowledged her as his master and even showered heaps of praise on her.

And, she wasn't flustered by that at all! Believe her!

And, since she decided to skip the school today seeing as she woke up late, she decided to show the town to Archer. To have him familiarize with the area, see the various locations the city has to offer. It was sort of like scouting to provide her Archer with the required necessary familiarity. Since, he was an Archer and all…

Her Archer currently was in spirit form while she was travelled the city, when she noticed a familiar face in the middle of a park, sitting dazed like all life left him.

She couldn't really tell how he was feeling, since he had his hair covered with a hat and was sporting black glasses. He also wore a long black coat that rose up to his neck line. Even she could tell he was trying to disguise himself. Probably hiding from someone, or something given how much black the guy was wearing on him. Or, maybe he got that idea after watching some crappy movie.

Even having interacted with him very less, she decided to talk about what was going on with him, since it was very rare for the honors student to skip the school. But, as she approached him, she saw he was staring at his hand, his posture suggesting that he was lost in his thoughts.

Standing a few feet away from where he sat, she cleared her throat to let him know of her presence given that he was so preoccupied. "Ahem, Uchiha-san?"

He blinked and peeled his eyes away from his hand for a moment, and met her smiling face, though his face was completely blank. "Tohsaka."

"It is quite unusual for you to skip your classes, Uchiha-san. Did something happen?" She smiled, causing the Uchiha to shift his complete attention towards her. Even with the complete clothing hiding his face from outside world, she could tell that he was still staring at her with an apathetic and bored face.

"No, nothing happened in particular." He simply said.

But, his attire suggested the exact opposite. He probably had other worrying issues, she thought and decided to leave him alone. But, then she remembered the entire fiasco with Shinji and the look of amusement he had when he crossed them. He probably set Shinji up for his own sadistic amusement. That bastard!

"Or, is it because you are running away from your fans, Uchiha-san?" She again smiled, but couldn't see the twitch of his eye due to the glasses. "I must say I feel sorry for all those girls seeing as their idol decided to skip school today."

"Shut up," Sasuke grumbled, looking to his side with a pissed off expression. "What about you, then? Did the prospect of seeing Shinji again scare you that much?"

Her eye twitched slightly at the mention of Shinji, "Well, at least I am not draping myself completely with heaps of black clothes and lurking around in a park alone." She retorted, causing him to sneer. "No, seriously, are you that scared of them? They don't bite, you know."

"You don't know the half of it." He stated, shuddering at the thought.

Rin just shook her head at the Uchiha who had gone pale, not believing him. "You must be kidding," People weren't that uncivilized. Sure, she knew most of the girls in her school went bat shit crazy over the Uchiha, but surely it couldn't be this bad.

He scoffed at her and rolled up the sleeves of his right arm, revealing a bite mark to her. "I guess this makes up for more than just my statement. I received this yesterday on the subway."

The crowd that went with it, especially in the mornings was just ridiculous. Makes him wish for better alternatives in travelling. And, this wasn't the first time he had been assaulted this way. He would probably show her more of the bite marks, but that would mean stripping down his attire and exposing himself to the world.

His lips slightly curved up though, upon seeing her pale expression. Perhaps, conversing with her might provide much needed distraction from what has been happening to him lately. He even had to sport sun glasses, afraid of his eyes turning red in public. Staying, coped up in his house also didn't help much either.

He needed fresh air.

"Um…Uchiha-san, is that what I think it is?"

Sasuke turned back to look at her and she was slightly shaking. No, not shaking. She was tensed, in a defensive stance. Like she was afraid of something. He could see a bead of sweat dropping down her smooth cheek and down into her neckline before it got absorbed by the sweat shirt inside. Which probably meant that his eyes activated again, if he was able to see a sweat bead to this degree. She was also mumbling something under her breath, like she was talking to someone.

"Yeah… um, is something wrong?"

Why was she getting tensed over a bite mark? She was one of the few girls in the school who left him alone, for which he was grateful. Then, what was her current expression supposed to mean?

He saw her shaking her head, her eyes narrowed slightly. "No, not the bite. I saw that, but that wasn't what I was asking about. I was asking about that red design over your hand."

Damn! Sasuke was reminded of it again. He stared at it apathetically, trying to think of an answer before he noticed a similar tattoo on her hand, with some kind of blue circuits converging over that spot. That meant she knew what it was… So, he could probably be honest with her, right?

"I am wondering about that myself." He said, his gaze fixed on the mark of her hand. "My guess is you know what this is." He said, pointing to the symbol on her hand.

Rin seemed to relax, releasing a deep breath she didn't realize she was holding. "So, you don't know what that is?" Which meant that he still hasn't summoned a servant. That explained why the Uchiha was skipping the school. He was probably freaked out by the appearance of that weird symbol out of nowhere.

But, for the Grail to select him as a master meant that he was from a mage family. But, she never heard about the Uchiha name before. That meant his ancestors probably weren't that famous, or went into hiding due to some reasons and changed their family name.

Or, his family was one of the newer generations. It could be anything, but the Uchiha looked like he didn't have a clue about what it was.

That meant that he was probably getting dragged into this by the Grail, despite his unwillingness. The grail often tries to choose incompetent masters, or weak masters to fill up the last slots. It wasn't surprising to her, given his disposition.

"I do." She answered, and saw that the Uchiha immediately stiffen at this. "But, I suggest asking the church to give you the required info. As a rule of fair conduct, I think it is best if they explain rather than me."

Sasuke didn't understand what fair conduct she was talking about, but understood well that she knew what was happening to him. "What is this about?"

"It means that you are being dragged into something dangerous that can threaten your life." She said in a stern tone. "I can inform him of your arrival if you want. Go to the Shinto church, Uchiha-san. You'll meet a priest named Kotomine. Show him your command spells and ask your doubts regarding the Holy Grail war."

Sasuke's eyes widened slightly, "Church? I am not going to be exorcised, am I?"

Rin blinked, incredulous at the thought. "No, why would you think so?!"

But, then she even said to ask about Holy Grail war. Even specified his tattoo as command spells. Maybe they know what was happening to him… "I'll be heading there right away."

He immediately started walking away, leaving her alone in the park. But, as he was about to leave the park, she shouted to him, deciding to give him one final advice.

"I suggest staying as far as you can away from the Grail war! It is for your own good!"

Right! He scoffed. "I'll leave that decision for a later time, after I hear what is happening to me and what bullshit is going on!"

And, with that, he was gone. Though he didn't shout, she still heard him. After he was completely out of sight, Archer materialized beside her.

"Rin, what was that about?"

She did not move her head, rather her sight still remained fixed on the spot he stood before he left. "Just warning someone getting dragged into this mess."

Archer raised his brow at this, "Do you know him? Is he one of your friend?"

Rin shook her head. "I wouldn't say we are friends… I'd say acquaintances at best."

Archer smirked, his expression slightly amused. "Well, your conversation didn't seem like two acquaintances talking with one another. Because, the conversation you had was about the bite marks he had."

Her cheeks slightly flushed at what Archer was suggesting, "S-Shut up!"

Archer shook his head in amusement at the reaction of his master. But, that amusement faded away after a moment. "We had a nice chance to slay him while he still hadn't summoned his servant," The Archer got serious again. "You let an opportunity miss, Rin."

Rin met his gaze, before her gaze returning to that spot, "It wouldn't be right to attack him before the Grail war actually begins. Surely you understand, right Archer?"

Archer in return, only sighed. "There you go making things complicated. It will come back one day to bite you, I say."

"Even if it comes to bite me back, you'll be there to take care of it when that happens." She said turning towards Archer. "Right, Archer?" She asked with a smile, causing Archer to sigh once again.

 **(((Finding oneself)))**

The church in Shinto was located just beside a graveyard. Pushing the rusty gates open, Sasuke began feeling all kinds of vibes about this place. He walked forward, hands in his pocket and a black hoodie pulled over his hair along with his sunglasses intact.

Pushing open the huge doors, the sunlight followed him into the place which was oddly dark for a place known to be closest to the God. With the sunlight behind him blinding his identity, he saw a man standing right below the cross, previously talking to a blonde who was seated in the front row, beside him.

"Who is it?" The man's voice was heavy, and as Sasuke reached him, he began noticing the features of the man.

He looked muscular for a priest, with hair reaching up to his shoulders. Of course, he wore the usual dark robes that the priests and the fathers wore, and he had a necklace hanging around his neck.

The blonde also seemed to have stopped talking, and turned around to look at him as Sasuke continued to walk until he reached a few feet away from the priest.

"You must be Kotomine Kirei." Sasuke said, causing the man to slightly raise his brow.

He, then slightly chuckled instead of getting offended, surprising both Sasuke and even the blonde haired guy. "My, my… the youth these days have lost all the respect for the elderly. What is your name, young man?"

"Spare me the ruse, priest," Sasuke said, taking his hoodie off and showed the symbols on his hand. "Just tell me what the hell is going on?! What are these and what the hell is this Holy Grail war that Rin babbled about?!"

The priest looked a bit surprised, before his calm façade took over again. "I see. Rin has sent you, didn't she?" He asked, but when he realized that the boy in front of him wasn't going to reply, he added. "I take it that Rin hasn't said much regarding those spells."

"She hasn't said anything useful." Sasuke said, shoving his hands into his pockets. "That is why I have come to see you. She told me that you knew what these were."

"I see." The priest nodded, before looking at him again. "Those weird symbols, as you put it, testify your right as a master in this Fifth Holy Grail war."

Sasuke blinked. "Master…?"

"There are total seven masters in each Holy Grail war, and you are the sixth one in this war." The priest explained. "Once the seven masters are selected, then the war starts."

The lost Uchiha just narrowed his eyes, "And what do you mean exactly by this _war_?"

"It is just as it sounds, young man. You'll have to battle and kill the other six masters to survive." The priest said, not bothered even a little when he talked about killing others. "Of course, you'll have to keep this war a secret from public. That goes without saying."

Sasuke didn't sound convinced, "And, for what purpose? Assuming that I believe you, why should I try to kill someone I don't even know just because I was selected to contest in a war named after some cheap antique?"

"Well, for one, it is to obtain the grail, which is said to be an omnipotent device capable of granting any power or wish," Kotomine explained with slight amusement, before his impassiveness took over again in a moment. "You won't be fighting alone in this war, of course. You'll be given a servant to fight alongside." He saw the confusion in Sasuke's face as he allowed the boy to process the information. "By servant, I mean a legendary historical figure. They fight alongside you in this grail war and when only one master remains, the grail appears."

"…!" Sasuke raised his hand, and stared at the engraved symbols for a few moments with mild interest. Not lifting his head, "Why do you think I was selected for this war when there are so many people in this town?"

"I don't know the exact criteria. The grail usually does the summoning, but mostly selects people of mage bloodline who have some kind of wish they want to be granted."

Sasuke still had some difficulty comprehending what he was told, "Can changing the appearance of an eye be considered some form of magic, then?" he asked, lifting his head.

Kotomine acted like he thought for a bit. "Well, it is possible by few families, though it is a rare ability." A certain gleam filled his eyes as he saw the young man ponder over his answer seriously, but that gleam went away when the boy returned his attention to him.

"You sure have answers for everything, don't you?" Sasuke smirked a bit, finally feeling convinced about this holy war. It seemed like he was in the right place after all. As his anxiety and confusion began to dispel, he started to sense a sharp gaze that had been on him this whole time, and his onyx eyes met equally blood shot eyes like his cursed ones, like the eyes of a predator that was carefully analyzing its prey's move.

"Is this supposed to be public knowledge?" he asked, obviously irritated and pointed to the blonde who sat silently the whole time through this Q and A. "Are you ok with him being here and listening to… all this? You said yourself that this war was supposed to be kept a secret from the public."

"Pardon him. He is an associate of mine," Kirei said quickly, before shooting a warried look at the said blonde. "And, the reason I know so much about this is because this isn't my first war acting as an overseer. Now that you have learnt what there is all to it, what do you say, young man? Are you going to participate in this war?"

Sasuke blinked in response, "I can withdraw...?"

"Of course, once the war begins." The man smiled. "You'll be in the protection of the sanctuary until the war ends. That is one of the top duties I have as an overseer."

Sasuke simply scoffed. He cannot stay in this place until the war ends. What was the priest expecting him to be? A coward? No, thanks. And, also maybe…just maybe the grail can even restore what was lost. Maybe, he can finally find himself.

"How do I summon this servant and what kinds are there?"

Kotomine didn't answer, but simply turned and walked away. He, then returned with a book and handed it to Sasuke. "This contains all you need to know about servants and how to summon them. Though, you require relics to act as a catalyst to summon a powerful servant. Hence, I have an offer for you."

Sasuke flipped few pages and went over it. "What is the offer?" He asked, not taking his eyes off the book.

"We already have a servant summoned at hand. If you wish, you can form a contract with him. He is quite strong, if I must say."

Sasuke stopped going through the pages and met Kirei's eyes and his expression was unreadable. His mouth tightened, "Thanks, but no thanks." Anything this priest was going to offer him was bound to be faulty. For all he knows, the priest might offer someone under the pretext of offering a servant, who would only backstab him later. "I'll do this whole thing on my own."

The golden haired man scoffed, causing Sasuke to raise an eyebrow.

"Got something to say?"

"Not really…" the blonde spoke for the first time and closed his eyes, choosing to ignore the audacity that the raven haired mongrel just displayed in front of him. "But, if you want to survive in this, boy, I suggest you take this seriously. It is not some parlor game that you play these days with your friends."

Kotomine stepped forward before Sasuke could respond, "Well, I can say I respect your decision." The priest intervened, making Sasuke turn towards him before things took a turn for worse. "Like my associate just said, if you want to survive in this war, I suggest using a catalyst to summon a strong servant."

Another look of confusion sprouted on Sasuke's face, as he hesitantly opened his mouth, debating whether or not to ask this priest, "…Where can I get this catalyst to summon a heroic spirit?"

Kotomine simply chuckled, causing Sasuke to frown. "What's so funny?"

"Nothing," the man shook his head. "It's just that I have never met someone who showed such confidence, if I must say despite being a novice in this sacred ritual." There was something really wrong with this priest. "I am not sure if anyone is going to offer you a catalyst just like that without any sort of compensation."

He said as Sasuke sighed in disappointment. This lad seemed somehow interesting with all the brimming confidence and yet, he also reminded him a bit of Emiya Kiritsugu if he were honest. Perhaps, he may be able to find out what he couldn't from Kiritsugu through this boy. So, it might not hurt to give him a piece of advice. "Though, if you must know, the only family around here that possess these catalysts are Matou. If you wish, you can approach them." As the Tohsaka was out of question and the Einzberns resided in Germany.

"The Matou are a mage family too?" Damn it. That meant Shinji was from a mage family too. That meant there was a high chance that he was going to battle one of his family member, or even Shinji himself. And, if he decided to sought the assistance of the Matou family, that would mean owing a debt to that loudmouth.

That thought itself wanted him to puke. "Thanks for the info, but I would like to take my chances."

"Well then. Meet me once you summon your servant, Sasuke." The priest said. He chuckled when the lad tensed at his name and spoke, "Don't look so distraught. I have my means. I am the overseer after all, so I know when a servant is summoned and when a master is selected. Including your name, Uchiha Sasuke."

Sasuke's lips thinned as he reached to the obvious conclusion, "So, you knew who I was all along?"

"No," The priest shook his head. "It was difficult to make out your appearance due to your… attire, but as the conversation proceeded, I came to know."

"Hn."

Yup, the priest was very shady. That was why he left out the details regarding his eyes. He, then simply walked away not bothering with the priest anymore and left the church through the door. If he had bothered to linger around, he would have noticed the twisted smile and glee that the priest sported shortly after he left.

"There is a sneer on your lips, Kotomine."

Kotomine had almost forgot about the king of heroes as he was busy musing in his thoughts. His face immediately went grim as he turned towards the king, "Is that how it looks?"

"Yes," The blonde said, hanging one of his arm across the chair. "It almost looks unsightly. A smile befitting a really twisted and shameless rogue like yourself."

"…"

"Did you really enjoy the encounter you just had with that brat, Kirei?" The blonde himself had a twisted smile. "You even went as far as to advice that insolent brat and even offered me as his servant."

"Yes, I did." Kotomine took a few steps to his front and set his book aside. "I feel as though I have met with an old acquaintance. One who has such confidence, fire and hope in his eyes when I mentioned about the grail. Did you not see how elated he felt despite trying to mask his emotions. How could I not be happy?"

"It seems your ways of obtaining pleasure still haven't changed." The blonde hung his head low, with a sneer of his own. "I assume you have plans for this kid like you did with Kariya."

"You know me," The priest said, turning around with a serious look. "As you said, the grail war has begun anew only after a mere ten years. As the overseer, I can only hope that the grail manifests completely this time."

"Even if this land turns into hell in the process?"

"That is out of my hands," The priest answered, as the blonde met his gaze. "After all, it is the master's role to struggle, endure and to crush those who would stop them."

A sadistic sneer captured his lips, as the blonde also shared his feeling. "Our lord in heaven forgives all the sins of the world. Hmph, but first we must wait for the appearance of the final master."

* * *

 **(AN)** That's it for the chapter. I haven't read the chapter, so there maybe few mistakes here and there. By the way, a lot has happened in the last episode of Fate/Apocrypha. I got GOT chills from it at one point, even after having read the light novel.


	3. The Golden Lancer

**(AN : Edit)** This chapter was beta'ed by **lioncousin** , and he did a really awesome job. He also pointed out a few flaws from the last version, and helped me come up with more ideas for this fic. He has also written a cross-over of Fate/Apocrypha and Akame Ga Kiru, " **Fate New Rebellion"** which is really good. Do check it out.

The reason of re-posting this chapter was because, as **lioncousin** and a certain guest reviewer pointed out, there were a few points that I missed when I posted the previous version. You can ignore this chapter as the overall content remains same, but I suggest going through this once.

If you are going through this chapter for the first time, I hope you enjoy this chapter.

* * *

 **(((Finding oneself)))**

Sasuke knelt down on one knee, his finger tracing along the curves of his art, which he drew not so long ago on the floor of his apartment. Having tried his hand at drawing only once in his class, he could say he was rather proud of how perfect the outcome was.

"But, still I can't believe drawing this took me over two hours."

Luckily for him though, the engraving specified in the book that the priest handed him, already matched with the ex-tenant's weird graffiti design. It couldn't have been a mere coincidence but it made things easier on him. Now he just simply had to retrace the design afresh on top of it. But Sasuke's suspicions kept resurfacing to the front of his mind.

What kind of mess was the previous occupant involved in? And, why did they draw the summoning circle of all things in the first place?

Sasuke was sure he would find the answers to those questions eventually, but now was not the right time to be investigating. Not when there were other important things that needed to be tend to, such as his security in this war.

Based on what the priest and the arrogant blonde said, summoning without a catalyst held its disadvantages. He would lose the right to summon a specific Servant which may cause him to summon someone weak with minimal combat capability. If that was the case, this war would become that much more difficult. Sasuke knew he was already a step behind the other participants. His knowledge about this so called Holy Grail War was limited, and he's been randomly tossed into the thick of it. There was no time to prepare.

Rin certainly seemed confident around him back in the park, but that was probably because she had already summoned a servant. Or, she was just strong as a mage and was confident in herself. Either way, he had two choices now.

Either suffer the possibility of a pathetic defeat and die, a worse case scenario, or go to Shinji and beg for a catalyst, and accept whatever terms his family come up with to stand a chance in this war.

If it were anyone other than Shinji, Sasuke might have considered the second option, but fate didn't leave him much of a choice here. It wasn't like he hated Shinji, the coward served a purpose in getting some girls off his back. That didn't mean he liked him either. Discounting his opinion, if Sasuke asked for a catalyst he might be used as a sacrificial pawn by the Matou family for all he knew. That was an outcome he refused to accept.

So, the only option left for him would be to summon without a catalyst. If there was one bright side about this scenario he should in theory summon a Servant that was compatible with his personality.

Sasuke's stare focused on the summoning circle before him. All that was left was the incantation. It seemed too simple for a ritual meant to evoke a Heroic Spirit. However, as the Master was supposed to be nothing more than the string which ties the Grail and the Servant together, this shouldn't prove to be a problem.

Sasuke found himself reflecting on the absurdity of this situation as he stood up. The Holy Grail War is the smallest and yet the biggest war in the world... with only one winner. What stood in his way were utter monsters—Heroic Spirits against which he doubted his hand to hand skills would be of any use against heroes of legend.

Vaguely, his mind turned to his own wish for the Holy Grail. What he wished for was not really so excessive. To Sasuke, it was not even that urgent of a matter. In fact, he had lived his life for the past year believing that he was truly alone in this world with no way of finding himself. And yet, the hope that he was sure he had thrown aside long ago was right before his eyes, within his hand's grasp.

"…Can I really win though?"

That was just a foolish thought by now. If he was really that desperate, he would have been performing this exact same ritual at the Matou residence by now.

Sasuke's right hand rose parallel to the ground, his command spells, the proof of his participation stared back at him. "Let's just get this started."

With a deep and shaky breath, he began the chant. The chant that was supposed to manifest a miracle.

"Let silver and steel be the essence.

Let stone and the archduke of contracts be the foundation.

Let a wall rise against the wind that shall fall.

Let the four cardinal gates close.

Let the three-forked road from the crown reaching unto the Kingdom rotate."

He began the incantation, and at the same time, he felt a dull sense of discomfort before pain started to wash over him. He felt his eyes shift and the only comparison he could make was that fire travelled through his veins as what looked to be blue circuits started to spread across his skin. The Command Spells on his hand shined a fierce scarlet.

His entire body was being turned into something human… yet inhuman. A piece of equipment bearing the miracles of the world, a component of a machine, or perhaps a gear—that was what he had become. A tool, a catalyst, a promoter for bringing this miracle to the living world. Aware of this, Sasuke took a step further on the pedal, further accelerating the life force circulating within his body almost unconsciously.

Sasuke noted out of the corner of his eyes that the summoning circle glowed red. But now was not the time for him to be paying attention to what will finally be the realization of a miracle as the book suggested. But, he did not notice the delivery package which lay on his bed, the one addressed to Matou, had started burning all of a sudden.

"Let it be filled. Again. Again. Again. Again.

Let it be filled fivefold for every turn, simply breaking asunder with every filling."

 **(((Finding oneself)))**

The only thing that stayed in her heart to the very end was a prayer—unblemished by regret, filled only with sincerity. She did not think of the impossible futures, or a what if scenarios as she looked over from the temporary stage made especially for her out of timber.

She decided that she had to at least stay true to herself until the very end. She did not regret the decisions she took throughout the course of her short life, nor did she blame the people that were indignantly blaming her for all the fault.

Their words now only sounded like a melody coming from an infinitely distant land, which she would be joining soon.

 _...O Lord, I give myself to You..._

Those were the last words in her heart. Her last prayer. Her consciousness ceased and she was released from all suffering.

The girl's dream ended in the face of reality. But it was not quite the end. Yes, the dream of the girl had ended... but the dream of La Pucelle was only just beginning.

MATCH FOUND.

INITIALIZATION… BEGIN.

ADAPTATION OF PHYSICAL BUILD AND SPIRITUAL BUILD… IN PROGRESS.

ADAPTATION COMPLETE.

ALL CLEAR.

CLASS {RULER} SERVANT ACTUALIZATION COMPLETE.

Amethyst-colored eyes opened slowly after the complete actualization. One moment, she was offering her final prayer to the god and when she thought her journey ended, a new journey began.

But the means by which she was summoned were so very unusual... There was no pattern for a summoning where the summoned was so weakly linked to the present world. What could be the reason for such an unconventional summoning?

Was it because the grail war was taking place only after a mere ten years? Or, was it because the grail suddenly decided to have a Ruler class servant to act as a judge after the mishaps of the past war?

Or, maybe because the grail did not have enough mana to summon her completely, as the war was occurring in exactly one-sixth time it would take originally.

Whatever the case was, Ruler had somehow managed to take form in this world. There are no problems with her specifications, either... but the body she took over was unmistakably that of a French girl. What's more, she possessed the majority of her memories. Yet, rather than having two personalities in one body, a so-called split personality, it would be more accurate to say both personalities have merged into one. Perhaps due to her own acuteness and deep conviction of faith, she has recognized and completely accepted 'La Pucelle' within her.

"Please lend me your body for a while, Laeticia." Ruler said to the owner of the body.

Having decided on her first task, the girl greeted 'her' friend, moving to the other bed and shaking her. After some groaning, she woke up and rubbed her eyes, looking half-awake.

"Mmn... w-what...?"

She was clearly drowsy that Ruler couldn't help but feel bad for waking her, but she spoke clearly. She needed to inform the girl's closest friend of where she was about to go. Even if it was a lie that was made up on the spot.

"I have been accepted as an exchange student into a high school in Japan. So, I'll be leaving here for a while." Because that was where the fifth Holy Grail war was taking place.

Perhaps not understanding the seriousness of the girl's words, she fell back onto the bed while waving her hand in farewell before she flung away her sheets a few seconds later in indignation.

"What did you just say?!"

"I'm sorry for leaving so suddenly, but time is of the essence," Ruler said, trying to placate her host body's friend.

"What? What essence? What is this, all of a sudden you just said 'goodnight' and 'see you tomorrow'! What are you saying?! When did you even apply for a transfer?!"

The girl looked at her bewildered friend with earnest and told her three things:

"I have been accepted as an exchange student in Japan."

"I must absolutely go."

"Don't worry. I have already informed my parents."

Her friend listened to those words with a blank expression, her mouth hanging open, but finally nodded in understanding.

"Japan, huh? Congrats, I guess. There's no helping it if you are already accepted..."

"That's right. I will explain this to the teachers."

"Well, okay… goodnight, then."

As servant Ruler, she had the ability to make others believe in her words. She did feel a bit bad for using her class privileges, but it couldn't be helped. A Ruler class wasn't summoned in the last war, but for her to be summoned this time meant something unusual, or bad was bound to happen.

She would make sure to apologize to the owner's friend later. "Goodnight."

 **(((Finding oneself)))**

The man's gauntlet clad fist lashed out like a viper. The attack was so fast, that it was almost naked to the human eye. Trying to dodge it was going to be fruitless, he was just too slow to do anything about it. For, he was already once struck by that fist and felt it pierce his chest.

But… as the hand of death was about to make its way into his heart once more, the wind slashed against it and defended him, as if to protect his life. Suddenly, she was there.

There was a young, petite blonde girl dressed in armor and blue dress that stood a few feet away from him. The moonlight behind her seemed to highlight her delicate features as her green eyes silently turned towards him. Her gaze was sharp and unwavering.

The armor was plain yet still held this regal aura to it, her posture unwavering even after deflecting a blow meant to end his life yet again. but it wasn't that which defined the blonde girl in front of him.

Despite the obvious show of strength, and the fact she was dressed for combat. There were only three words that came to Emiya Shirou, the adopted son of Emiya Kiritsugu, at that moment.

She was beautiful.

"I ask of you. Are you my Master?"

Shirou blinked, barely comprehending what she just asked him, "…Master?"

Upon seeing his confused expression, she elaborated.

"I have come in response to your summons." The enemy servant got up in the meantime, and the beautiful knight seemed to notice that. She quickly turned around, grasping the situation on her own. "I think I understand what is going on. From this time forward, you hold my sword and your fate shall rest in my hands. Our contract is now complete."

Saying so, she gripped the moonlight in her hands, and lunged forward at the man with the Chinese style tattoos on his body.

Thus Shirou bore witness to his second fight between legends that night.

 **(((Finding oneself)))**

He seemed to be in luck, Sasuke decided.

Even he had to spare a few words of approval and praise for the servant who has been summoned before him. Even if the whole concept of a mage and mana were new to him, a novice Master such as himself was able to tell how much magical energy radiated from the Servant he summoned.

A regal figure clad in radiant golden armor stood before him. His form was lean, but muscular. His expression was apathetic, and he wore a black body suit under the golden armor that shone like the iteld sun. His sharp blue eyes seemed to scan him, as a red cape unfurled from his back. His skin was extremely pale, and he had a single golden earing shaped like a chariot on his right ear.

Sasuke still couldn't believe that this was actually happening. Whatever the priest had said turned out to be true, and he was actually participating in this war. That meant that the Holy Grail was real and his dream… but, first, he needed to address the Heroic Spirit he had managed to manifest.

He took a cautious step forward and showed the Command Spells to the heroic spirit in front of him as a precaution. Wouldn't want the servant to attack him due to a misunderstanding now, would we? Kotomine did say that it identified one's right as a Master, so the Servant should recognize that.

Sasuke cleared his throat and spoke clearly, "I believe you are the Heroic Spirit I summoned just now."

The golden man's eyes trailed slowly from his face to his hand and widened slightly at the sight of the command spells. Then, he bowed his head a bit surprising Sasuke and spoke in an apathetic voice. "Forgive my rudeness for not announcing myself, Master. I was merely checking if you were the one who summoned me, since the summoning seemed… a bit off."

Though the voice seemed cold and emotionless, Sasuke could tell that the heroic spirit meant what he said.

"It's fine for you to be cautious." Sasuke nodded and his lips curled a bit, despite himself. When he first heard of the concept of summoning a Servant, he could only hope his Servant wouldn't be loud, abrasive and annoying like his classmates at school, because on some level he just knew that was the kind of Servant he would likely summon considering all that's happened to him until now. He was glad to be proven wrong.

"I am Uchiha Sasuke. I'll be working with you as your Master in this war." Sasuke continued, as he took notice of how his Servant scanned his apartment. Sasuke took this moment to analyze his Servant's parameters.

According to the book and the priest, he should be able to read the specs of the Servant and confirm him as his own with the 'Master's vision' that the grail provided. Accessing this so called 'vision' was easier than he thought, and almost felt natural to him.

Maybe, it was because of his so called 'bloodline' that it was so easy? So, equipped with the new sight that increased his perception, he glanced at his servant.

To his surprise, and slight disappointment, all the valuable data such as physical strength and endurance, and other base parameters had mediocre values. Of course, he couldn't judge completely because he has yet to encounter another servant, but such a start did not bode well for the Uchiha.

"Your specs appear to be quite low. Is it because of some error, or are your skills normally of that level?" Sasuke meant no disrespect towards his Servant. Despite everything he was still supposed to be a hero of legend, and the raven-haired teen knew better than to aggravate who was supposed to be his partner. However, if they were to succeed in this endeavor, he needed to know as much as possible.

"Forgive me for causing confusion," The man bowed, not at all offended by his comment. "Allow me to introduce myself. My name is Karna, son of the Sun God Surya, summoned under the Lancer class in this Holy Grail war. You are my Master. Moving forward from this time on, you hold my blade and I hold your destiny." As he said those words, Sasuke felt a fiery jolt run over his body. Like his entire system heated for a fraction of a second. It wasn't painful as it was with the summoning, no, it was more calming, like a warm embrace.

The white haired man also felt the same thing, as he nodded in confirmation, "Looks like our contract is complete."

As soon as the contract was established and his name was revealed, the base parameters seemed to have increased which caused Sasuke to raise his right brow in surprise. But, that should be impossible, right? Or, was it some sort of error like he had initially guessed?

The man continued talking upon seeing Sasuke's confused expression.

"My base stats are shown at half the value because of a skill I possess. However, that skill is negated when my true name is revealed." That was how the skill **Uncrowned Arms Mastership** worked. Because of how he was treated in the history, despite his actual skill, people had a bad habit of undermining him. Thus he was granted a skill which matched that part of his legend.

With Karna's stats being shown at their original value, Sasuke was sure that he stood a significantly better chance. Not that he thought his chances were anywhere close to good, but now that he knew more of what his Servant was capable of it helped him feel more secure. Sasuke wasn't naive enough to think he could match the other more experienced mages that were sure to be part of this war. He knew next to nothing about magecraft, and although the thought of his inferiority in comparison to the other Masters irked him, he would have to accept that fact. At least, he was confident he had a top class Servant.

The lone Uchiha would certainly have to ask Karna more about his legend later on, but he was without a doubt somebody noteworthy in history if the way the Servant carried himself was any indication. He was without a doubt humble, but still gave of an air of incomparable power. Before he could ask his Servant about the rest of his capabilities, the smell of smoke invaded Sasuke's nostrils.

"…!?"

His eyes trailed in annoyance as his head snapped to the fire which originated from the package on his bed. He immediately turned on his heels, and was about to run to the bathroom to grab a towel to put out the fire but before he could, his Servant materialized a golden lance out of thin air and in one clean and swift motion, dispelled the winds just with the power behind his blow alone.

Sasuke just stopped in his tracks, and ogled the golden lance that just saved his cot from burning down with inquisitiveness. He shook his head after a moment, clearly impressed by his Servant's actions just now. Even the weapon of the golden Lancer was made of gold, much like the ornaments stuffed into his body.

"My thanks, Lancer."

"No need for thanks, Master. My summoning was the reason for the flames. Sadly, I don't believe I was able to save the catalyst you held in that package, nor your bed."

Realization hit the Uchiha, and he couldn't help but smirk in pleasure. It looked as if he took a catalyst from the Matou without his knowledge.

The Servant just tilted his head in response and held a slightly apologetic expression, as Sasuke opened the windows of his apartment to let the smoke out. But, with his cot burned to an unsalvageable point, he supposed he would have to acquire a new one at some point. A minor inconvenience compared to the success of his summoning.

Sasuke ran his right hand through his hair, before he turned towards Lancer. "No need to look apologetic over my bedding. In the end it's irrelevant and I can always get a new one." The Uchiha walked over to the door of his apartment before he beckoned Lancer to follow him. "Come, we might as well go and meet the watchdog of this war."

"Understood," Lancer nodded before vanishing from Sasuke's vision. The Servant followed behind his new lord in spirit form.

Although he has only just been summoned, Karna could see that his Master was mysterious in his own right, and was a troubled soul. Not that would change anything for the Servant. As long as Sasuke was his Master, then he shall do everything in his power to ensure his victory. He was known as the Hero of Charity for a reason. If his Master was troubled then he would act as light to be wielded so he could find his path.

 **(((Finding oneself)))**

"Thank you, Tohsaka." Shirou trailed off awkwardly, scratching his cheek.

Rin, who was walking with him, tilted her head. "What do you mean, Emiya-kun?"

"You know, for helping an enemy Master and for having accompanied that same Master to the church. I'm grateful," Shirou said, feeling nervous as hell. Well, one couldn't really blame him.

After all, just an hour ago, he would have lost his life again if not for Saber. Saber was able to force the other Servant to withdraw, but no actual wounds were acquired on either end. It was concerning to see that the enemy Servant was able to parry Saber's invisible blade with his gauntleted fists.

The blows that those two exchanged while fighting… Shirou could honestly agree that he couldn't have stood against either of them for a second if he were to face them in a true combat. And, he had unintentionally wasted a Command Spell later, when he stopped Saber from attacking Archer and Rin.

"Well, you did waste a Command Spell for my accord, so you could say I owe you," Rin said, as she eyed the blonde knight that was walking a few feet behind them. Then, all of a sudden, her moody demeanor kicked in and changed when she looked back at Shirou, "D-Don't get the wrong idea. Our truce is only for tonight. We are going to be enemies again once tomorrow starts. You do understand, right Emiya-kun?"

"I get it, Tohsaka." Shirou only smiled in return, causing Rin to turn her head away from him.

"He doesn't get the situation he's in at all." She mumbled, wanting to cry as a result of the altruism that Shirou was sporting at the moment. He sounded like he got what the grail war meant when he met Kirei, and even expressed his distaste for the priest and the whole concept quite openly.

But, he was not taking her words seriously at all. How could she possibly fight him when he won't fight back?

They walked past the cemetery, and were about to cross the bridge when Rin suddenly stopped.

Shirou tilted his head, "Tohsaka?"

"No offense, but you should go home on your own now."

Shirou blinked, "huh?"

"We are enemies officially, now that you have been debriefed by the priest." Rin said, turning around. "Get it? You are an enemy Master that I must defeat at all costs if I want to win this war."

Shirou shook his head in response, "I have no intention of fighting you."

She narrowed her eyes when her suspicions became true, before she sighed. "I should have known. Why did I even bother bringing you down here?"

"Rin."

The three of them looked to their front as Archer materialized, with his arms folded and an annoyed expression gracing his face. "If an easily slain enemy presents itself, we'd be remiss not to take advantage of it."

"You don't have to tell me that," Rin huffed and turned her head away with a pout.

"If you agree, then act." Archer spoke up. "Or what? Will you let him go too as you did with the other one?"

Shirou blinked at what Archer said. "Which other one?"

"W-Why did you suddenly bring him up?" Rin flailed her arms at Archer, shuffling on her feet.

"Hey, Tohsaka! What is Archer talking about?" Shirou took a step forward. "Is someone else you know also participating in this war?"

"No, not someone you know," She lied, shooting a dark glare at Archer.

After all, Sasuke and Shirou belonged in the same class, and she had seen them together on more than one occasion. Sasuke was his friend, even if the former didn't display their bond often with the latter. At least that's what she believed. Being forced to fight someone whom you considered a friend to the death was already a cruel thing. She wanted to spare him of that truth at least for now.

Learning about the Holy Grail War and Servants possibly altered his entire perception on the world. She idly wondered how Sasuke took all this when he was debriefed by Kirei on the entire concept of Holy Grail and if he decided to drop out from the war.

"Well, Emiya-kun. Whether you decide to fight, or not, be prepared for tomorrow." She said, her eyes narrowed and voice serious.

But, if Sasuke decided to continue participating in the war, then that would mean there would be around three Masters in her school alone. Talk about the odds.

As Rin thought on how she found out about Sasuke and the meeting she had with him the day before, Sasuke was entering the church through the rusty steel gates, with Lancer in tow.

"Master, I detect multiple enemy signatures. Presumably, two or three Servants." Lancer informed, as Sasuke stopped right at the entrance to the church and looked back at his Servant.

"What do you suggest we do?" He asked for his Servant's opinion. If they were to work together, then he should show that he was willing to listen to his Servant. The man was a lot more experienced than him anyways, and he still didn't know much regarding how these battles were exactly waged.

Lancer, answered after thinking for a moment. "I assume that a battle may ensue. It would be best if we could get some early information on them."

Sasuke nodded, in agreement. "Very well, I need to register with the war's overseer. Refer to your own judgement when it comes to observing the other Servants."

Lancer nodded silently and bowed, turning to leave before Sasuke called once more.

"If you think an opportunity presents itself to take out an enemy Servant, do it." Sasuke ordered. Such a situation was definitely a possibility, with two to three heroic spirits possibly clashing. The method might seem underhanded, but this was a war after all. And, this way he might also get a better idea of what his servant was capable of and where he stood in front of other Servants.

As for him, he would finish his business with the priest as quickly, and join Lancer to at the very least discover the identities of the other Masters. He froze when he thought about it. Speaking of Masters, there was a high chance that Tohsaka might also be involved in the battle that was going to ensue. If that were the case…

"On second thought, if you see a girl with twintails in danger, step in immediately and save her. Even if she is an enemy Master. I owe her. If anything unprecedented happens other than that, I leave the rest of the decisions including the use of your Noble Phantasms to you until I arrive."

"Understood." Was Lancer's short reply, and left dematerializing. Lancer was in the simplest term a soldier. When commanded, he behaved as though the very concept of defiance does not exist.

He would do anything he was asked to, no questions asked. Something that Sasuke found very convenient. Because, going this way, he wouldn't have to bother wasting the greatest weapon that was granted to him.

Sasuke looked at the Command Spells on his hand. Lancer explained that the Command Spells could be used to augment him in battle or to summon him despite his location. These Command Spells could very well be the difference between victory, or defeat.

You could call it a gut feeling, but Sasuke decided he at least owed this chance to Tohsaka, because of her assistance the other day, and for not trying to take him out the moment she discovered the command spells on his arm. Did she decide to give him a chance because of her confidence in her servant and her skills, or was it out of pity? No, Tohsaka was too proud to pity the situation of others. If anything she held some sort of code which caused her to give him this chance.

Whatever the case was, she was going to be his enemy. Just not today. Though, he wondered if he could really kill someone for the Grail. What worried him was the thought of bloodshed wasn't as offputting as he thought it should have been. Either way, he held no intention to kill Tohsaka, and hopefully it wouldn't have to come to that. But Sasuke couldn't deny himself. He had a goal and he would see his wish come to fruition.

But, the real question was could he allow his wishes coming to fruition at the cost of blood on his hands?

"I see you have returned, young man." The Priest grinned upon seeing him.

The priest seemed awfully happy for some reason. Sasuke pushed all his thoughts to the back of his mind, and focused his attention onto the man before him. He could only hope to finish his business quickly, and get out as soon as possible. This place and the man before him raised the hairs on his arm to raise.

"Hn." He grunted in reply, placing his hands in his pockets. He looked around, his gaze searched for a particular blonde. "I do not spot your associate anywhere. Is he somewhere else?"

"He is a busy person." The priest smiled. "Though, I see that you have taken an interest in my associate. Do you need him for something?"

Sasuke shook his head, "No. Not at all. I was just curious."

The priest didn't further question about it much to Sasuke's relief. "So, did you find the book helpful, or are you here to take up on my offer?" He asked, the grin fading away as he set his prayer book aside. "If you are here for that particular reason, I am afraid that you might be a bit late as the war had already begun with the appearance of the last Master."

"Then, I suppose it is a good thing that I already summoned a Servant of my one," Sasuke said coolly, his tone confident and positive.

"Oh! So, where is this servant that you summoned?" Kirei asked, his eyes having an unrecognizable glint. "The one that you summoned without a catalyst, that is."

"Ah," Sasuke smirked. The priest held no knowledge that he unknowingly had a catalyst. There was no reason to enlighten him though, "I have assigned a task to him, and am waiting to see what he can do."

 **(((Finding oneself)))**

As Rin instructed Archer through the link and turned to leave, she froze in her spot letting out an audible gasp.

"What's wrong, Tohsaka?" Shirou asked, mild concern permeated through his voice as he turned towards her.

Before Rin could answer, Saber instinctively moved in front of Shirou and gripped the invisible sword in her hands, taking a defensive stance. Shirou turned in the direction in which she directed her gaze and was surprised just when he spotted a short, white haired girl standing a few meters away from them.

"Ne, are you guys done chatting?" The white haired girl asked with an innocent smile, as the mist around her began to clear to reveal an enormous man behind her.

Rin fumbled in her steps, unconsciously moving backwards as she took in the sight of the absolute beast in front of her. Only the class of the enemy servant managed to make its way out of her throat

"Berserker!?"

* * *

 **(AN)** I have taken some content from Apocrypha as you guys may have noticed. Because, Jeanne is bae and Karna is dope. For those of you wondering about Karna and Jeanne, they are the servants from the Apocrypha timeline.

This war is obviously going to deviate from the canon version as a result. There are also going to be pairings in this one. Well then, until next time!


	4. The First Clash

**(AN)** This chapter was beta'ed by **lioncousin** , and he did an awesome job once again even though he is busy with his exams. And thanks for all the reviews I got for the last chapter.

Continuing on, I hope you enjoy this chapter.

* * *

 **(((Finding oneself)))**

The night was cold and chilly, mist crept its way into the city alleys. The once crowded streets that were full of life and human activity during the day now stood empty and barren.

Outside influences were at a minimum, and there was no need to worry about trying to hide the battle that was going to ensue.

A battle between legends, which was going to take place in a mere street a little farther than where Shinto church stood. Three Masters and three Servants faced each other at this moment. Two of the Masters stood on one side, while the other would have been by her lonesome self if it wasn't for the gargantuan figure beside her.

The short statured girl with white hair walked a few steps forward, while the other two Masters kept their guard up and didn't dare take their eyes of her partner. The monstrosity which followed the doll-like girl demanded everyone's attention. The girl sported a sweet smile, as she closed her red eyes, a common trait possessed amongst her homunculi family.

"Good evening, Onii-chan! This is the second time we are meeting like this."

Shirou may have received her words a lot more warmly if it were not for the obvious hostility she radiated behind that innocent smile. He was surprised a bit when she called him onii-chan, something that only siblings would normally do, or someone really close like how siblings would be.

But, he could not allow to be fooled by her words, both Saber and Rin were tensed beside him. He could tell that even Archer was probably thinking the same thing and already had his bow nocked.

The girl noticed Rin's sour expression, and smiled spreading her skirt a little with her hands and bowing her head before her in a proper curtsy.

"It's nice to meet you too, Rin. I am Illya. IIlyasviel Von Einzbern," she peeked an eye open lifting her head. "You know the name 'Einzbern', don't you?" The action could have been considered cute if it wasn't for the tense atmosphere.

"Einzbern…" Rin tensed up, and her suspicions were true. This girl was from the Einzbern family, one of the three great mage families, the other two being her own family, the Tohsaka, and Shinji's and Sakura's family, the Matou.

Even Saber tensed a little, images of the previous war rushed through her mind upon hearing Illya's family name. However, she quickly shook it off. A battle was soon to take place, and any distraction could prove to be fatal.

Shirou was lost at the importance of the name Einzbern, while Rin quickly gauged the beast behind the Einzbern. The parameters that she observed made her raise her brows in mild amazement and fear. "I am amazed. In terms of raw ability, that thing outclasses even Saber."

"It's terrifying, I agree." Archer's voice echoed around them, as he continued to stay in his spirit form. "That Servant could probably face the other six Servants single-handedly."

"Which means this isn't someone that can be taken out by brute force alone." Rin summarized, not taking her eyes of the Berserker. "Archer, this calls for your class's primary battle style."

"Then, what about defense?

I doubt you could survive one of his attacks head-on," the Servant clad in red asked.

Rin looked at Shirou's nervous face and Saber, before settling her eyes on Berserker again.

"There are three of us. We will be able to manage somehow."

"Understood."

With that, Archer retreated to make his way to the highest vantage point where he could get a clear view of the battle that would occur.

"Finished with your little strategy meeting?" Illya tilted her head, her tone full of confidence. "Shall we begin?" Her predatory smile wouldn't have been misplaced on the maw of a wolf.

All she got as an answer were defensive stances and wary looks. Those cautious gazes boosted her confidence in herself and her Servant even more. Berserker was the strongest in the world after all. But, at least they weren't running away, so maybe she could commend them for that. By killing them quickly, of course.

"Okay, go get them now Berserker," she sang.

Prana swirled in air as the Berserker class Servant let out a huge roar, which caused the road tiles beneath him to crack under the pressure. Any lesser man might have already soiled themselves upon seeing the hulking monstrosity, his ruthlessly crafted and honed muscles plus the absolute look of fury that the mad Servant held.

Without any warning, Berserker launched himself high into the air, prepared to end the three figures in front of him in one blow. For Berserker was without a doubt a top Servant and being summoned into the Berserker class further enhanced his raw strength and power.

But, he was intercepted mid-air by Archer's arrows which managed to deflect his path, and pushed him onto the pavement to the side. Berserker met the second wave of projectiles head-on deflecting it with the crude slab of stone in his hand, before one arrow snuck past his defense and struck him head on. The issuing explosion blocked the hulking Servant from everyone's view.

Shirou and Rin ran to check if the Berserker was down, but the Servant's roar said it all.

"No way! They had no effect?!"

Rin's surprise was evident on her face as she gulped nervously. Berserker meanwhile crouched down and launched himself again at blinding speeds, landing beside Shirou in an instant.

Shirou just managed to look up, and froze as fear coursed through his veins instantly. His war was going to end on the first day. There was no way he could evade such a sudden blow. How pathetic.

As he awaited for his impending doom, the stone sword that should have left his entire body as paste on the pavement was held back by an invisible blade, the hair and skirt of Saber still swayed due to her sudden arrival, her discarded cloak fluttered in the air.

The shock wave from the clash shook Shirou of his feet as he landed on his rear. Saber tilted her sword a little, and pushed to the side throwing Berserker off balance before striking at him once more. Although the Berserker was able to parry it, he was thrown back due to the amount of strength Saber held in her blow.

Her eyes widened a second later, as Berserker used the momentum from Saber's attack to land near Rin. Before either Saber, or Archer could react, Berserker had brought down his cruel weapon at Tohsaka, who could only close her eyes in anticipation, unable to react at all.

"RIN!"

Shirou's desperate shout was in vain, as the ground shattered completely where Berserker stood, dust enveloped him and the possible remains of Tohsaka.

Saber and Shirou waited impatiently as the smoke cleared and revealed Berserker, who stood straight, weapon in hand, yet Tohsaka was nowhere to be seen.

"So, another one joins the fray."

They all looked around upon hearing Illya's displeased remark. The girl's previously jovial smile was now replaced by an irritated grimace as she stared at the new arrival.

A red cape billowed in the cold night wind, as blue apathetic eyes turned towards Berserker and his Master not far away from him.

Saber and Shirou turned their heads in the direction in which both Berserker and his Master were staring at. A regal figure clad in radiant golden armor, contrasted with the dark and unforgiving night stood at quite a distance away from them on top of one of the surrounding lampposts.

Shirou's eyes widened as he took notice of the figure squirming in the mysterious man's arms.

"Let go of Tohsaka!"

Despite his shout of accusation, Saber could see that the white haired man had just now moved to save Rin. And, he could not have been an ordinary human to have rescued Rin when she was about to be struck down by Berserker at such close proximity. That meant that the new arrival had to be –

"Which Servant class do you belong to?"

It was just as Illya asked. Another Servant who had been observing the battle decided to join them. But, why now? What could he gain by helping an enemy Master?

The white haired man wordlessly joined the rest of them on the ground and let Rin go, upon release she immediately put some distance between herself and the Servant. The golden Servant motioned for her to get away from him, which she followed quietly and ran cautiously to where Shirou and Saber were.

"My class is irrelevant as you shall find out soon." The radiant Servant answered, turning his attention back to Illya. "I presume you are the Master of Berserker. Is that right?"

Berserker immediately jumped and landed where Illya was. Despite losing his sanity due to the mad enhancement, his primal instincts screamed to him that the man in front of him was dangerous.

"Yes, that is correct. Though, your Master must be really foolish to allow you to get involved in this battle. He should have just waited for his turn." For the first time in that day, Illya was sporting an annoyed look.

Her observations confirmed the opposite person as a weak servant, with mediocre to average stats at best. With such stats… The nerve of the guy! The audacity he had to interrupt when Berserker was involved in a battle. It was like insulting her and Berserker.

No sooner than she said those words, a bluish-white light seemed to penetrate through Lancer's right hand. However, he was only bringing form to the object that should have been there to begin with.

Illya and Rin held no words. But it was Shirou and Saber who were struck most by the weapon. The young Emiya for some reason was able to sympathise with bladed weapons and he just knew the weapon before him was something special. Saber having seen weapons created by those outside the realms of man was able to understand the weapon which emerged in her vision was something of great beauty and power like her own blade.

It was a massive spear, with a shaft of gold and the spearhead shaped similarly to a golden sun. A weapon of such exquisite appearance that it was practically a work of art, and could only be described as a weapon granted by the Gods. The golden polearm was without a doubt his Noble Phantasm.

"I see that you hold a great deal of confidence in your servant. While that is a good thing, having too much blind faith might just pave way for your downfall." He pointed his holy spear at her servant. "Allow me to demonstrate."

Utterly calm and assured, Lancer declared that he had no issue with facing Berserker. The very same Servant that both Saber and Archer had trouble dealing with. His words spoke volumes of his enormous self-confidence. He spoke not out of haughtiness or arrogance, because to him, it was the simple truth that he could not be defeated. At least not against this foe in his current condition.

"What...?"

Rin was at a loss of words, shocked by Lancer's calm declaration. Saber, and even Archer who was relatively quiet waited to see the bold declarations that Lancer made.

Illya, on the other hand, was shocked by both Lancer's insult and his calm words, even as Lancer stood before the Servant in whom she had every confidence in. Her shock immediately transforming into hatred, Illya shouted in an uncharacteristic tone.

"Kill him, Berserker! Crush that Lancer into the ground!"

Berserker raised his weapon at Lancer, the ground beneath him crumbled under his weight.

"...Very well. This duel is ours, Berserker."

With an earth shattering roar, Berserker shifted and crashed the wall that the Lancer was standing near by. The rubble split away, as Lancer made a strike at the beast who met it with his own. The impact those two held in their attacks caused another ripple, another shockwave that could be mistaken as an earthquake by the residents.

Apathetic eyes met ruthless ones for a brief moment before both of them vanished from others field of vision. Shirou and Rin weren't able to follow the battle at all, as those two entered high speed combat that only Saber and Archer were able to perceive.

Multiple ripples could be felt in the area, as the empty street was torn apart. The battle shifted from the streets to the cemetery. Trenched were formed, multiple trees were uprooted, and in another location great clumps of dirt were kicked into the air.

They finally settled to a single place, where their destructive battle could proceed unhindered. Each strike in itself could have taken out any lesser Heroic Spirit, but both of them were unmistakably top class.

Berserker accumulated his strength in an attempt to crush any defense Lancer could have offered. The golden Servant shifted to the side slightly, avoiding the attack by a hair's width. The velocity of Berserker's strike caused Lancer's red cape to billow in the wind and his white hair flew about in all directions. With a twirl of his weapon, Lancer sent his spearhead towards the heart of the overextended Berserker.

"Got him!" Rin yelled in delight, pumping a fist.

While both were enemy Servants, it was safe to presume that Lancer was on their side until Berserker was dealt with. There was no way that the mindless beast could dodge such a swift blow from such a short distance.

Berserker merely shifted his feet, bending his huge enormous body at the last minute to avoid what would have been a fatal blow, but Lancer still managed to graze the mad Servant, a crimson line extended up his chest and across his right shoulder. First blood went to Lancer, and most importantly everyone could now see that the previously invulnerable Berserker could indeed bleed.

And if something could bleed, it could die.

Refusing to let Lancer press his war cry escaped from his maw, Berserker let go of his crude stone sword, and latched unto Lancer's spear. With a vicious pull, Lancer was taken off balance and was dealt a powerful kick to his gut.

"He's way too agile!" Rin commented in amazement. Berserker's mad enhancement didn't seem to negatively impact his thought process in combat at all which was worrisome.

The kick sent Lancer flying away a few feet, before he whirled around in midair to land on his feet. His weapon was still in his grip since he wretched it away from Berserker's hands when his blow landed. He was honestly impressed by his opponent's skills.

"You must be a famous heroic of some renown." Lancer said, gazing at the wounds that the Berserker was sporting – a slash in the chest, a cut in his bicep, a slash on his thigh and a wound in the shoulder. "I see that your endurance is pretty high too."

It was just as Lancer pointed, as Berserker had fought without caring about the wounds at all as if they never existed in the first place. These said wounds were now being healed by his Master who was more than displeased at the current situation.

"You must be an endurance type warrior too." Saber pointed out, observing that Lancer was wearing minimal injuries compared to Berserker. The kick the Servant of the lance received should have done a lot more damage than it appeared to have done. Yet, the only discomfort Lancer showed was a slight rub to the area that was hit.

She turned her green eyes at Berserker, stepping to Lancer's side. "But, still even in the grip of madness his skill with blade remains unblunted." Cold apathetic eyes turned towards her, as she put out a suggestion. "How about a temporary truce, Lancer?" If this was a Servant of honor or chivalry then Saber wouldn't have dared to offer such a suggestion, but this Berserker had tried to attack her Master, and was little more than a mad beast in her eyes.

She had half expected Lancer to point his spear in her direction, but he just smiled a little in response. "It is true that fighting with that monster alone would lead to nothing but a stalemate as of now. I'm confident in my abilities of taking down that Servant but it would put more of a burden on my Master than what I would desire. While I do not like to ally myself with an enemy servant, I suppose it can't be helped."

This brief truce would even help with his Master's previous orders.

Lancer was unmistakably top class. However, with his golden armor that was continuously active and the magnificent divine spear he held, he consumed an extraordinary amount of prana as well. A normal magus probably wouldn't be able to move even a single finger while supporting him. Even a first‐rate magus would be exhausted to the point that they couldn't use their own magecraft.

His current Master, Sasuke, was somebody new to all this. Despite trying to act mature he could tell how inexperienced his Master was. He did not want to burden his Master so early with his prana consumption, by using prana burst, or either of his offensive Noble phantasms. If he used some of his more taxing abilities it could even kill his Master which is something Karna refused to do. Saber's assistance could also help him discover the Servant of the sword's identity if he was lucky.

"Very well. No objections, right Shirou?" Saber asked, turning her head towards the redhead for a brief moment. Even if the boy was inexperienced, she had agreed to become his partner, and thus even his opinion mattered to her.

Shirou gave Saber of nod of approval. Despite how brief their partnership has been so far he already held great faith in his Servant.

"Archer will support you!" Rin said from beside, causing everyone to turn towards her. Even Lancer raised his eyebrows slightly. "That thing is an obstacle to everyone. So, it would be beneficial for all of us if we bring it down."

' _He's less a frenzied warrior and more an embodiment of savagery. He may be mad, but his ingrained swordsmanship hasn't left him. But, are you sure, Rin?_ ' Archer asked through their bond.

' _That Lancer class servant is equally dangerous. That spear is a rare gem, being able to pierce the hide that is Berserker's body, and it's not just his weapon. Lancer's destructive force comes from his immense physical strength and his transcendent technique. Truly, his strength, agility, and endurance far surpass what his parameters detail._ ' Archer continued in a slightly wary tone. ' _It would be best for us if we try to take them both out while they are busy fighting each other._ '

' _We can't do that_ ,' Rin replied immediately. ' _Lancer just saved my life. I think he means us no ill will as of now_.'

' _It might have been his Master who ordered him_ –'

' _Whatever the case, I think it's safe to think of him as an ally for today_.' She cut Archer off hoping that it was the case.

Archer sighed on other end, ' _There you go complicating things again… Fine! Let's just get this over with_.'

"That's the spirit Archer!" She beamed aloud this time, before blushing in embarrassment from the strange looks she was getting.

Saber gripped her sword and readied herself. "Let's go, Lancer." Lancer nodded wordlessly and swung his divine spear with both hands, Saber swung her invisible sword and Archer nocked another arrow. Standing in their way was the one who could take on the other six servants single-handedly.

At the same time as Berserker roared, the clash between these four Servants commenced.

 **(((Finding oneself)))**

Sasuke placed his hand on his forehead and shook his head, before standing firmly.

"Are you alright, young man?" Kirei asked upon noticing how Sasuke seemed to space out for a moment.

"No. I am fine." Sasuke said. He didn't want to show the priest any weakness but couldn't help but use the chair next to him for support. His already pale complexion turned even paler. While he could push through the fatigue, his eyes had blurred for an instant just now and he felt his body start heating up tremendously. Lancer has engaged in combat.

What worried him was that Lancer wasn't even going all out, and he was already feeling backlash from his Servant. His inner coils felt as if they were set on fire, straining to provide Lancer with prana. Maybe, because he was already tired due to the stress of his situation and the recent summoning, but the fact remained that Lancer was consuming extraordinary amounts of prana.

Maybe this was the price to pay for drawing a top class servant. Shaking his head once more, he focused his vision onto the priest. "What did you say was the offer again?"

"It's like I said. I can provide you the details of an enemy Master and his Servant." Kirei smiled, making Sasuke want to backpedal a bit. "Just a moment."

Kirei excused himself, and walked to where the cross was. He bent down and opened a locker located near the base to fish out a file.

"What exactly is in it for you?" Sasuke asked from where he stood, still holding onto the chair.

"Oh, nothing." Kirei said, removing a pile of old manuscripts that his father left. "It was actually requested of me to hand over the privilege by the enemy Master himself. Though I admit, I am a bit late on attending to that matter…"

Plenty late actually. Now that all the Masters and Servants had assembled.

"I won't be getting in trouble for taking out this mage, will I?" Sasuke narrowed his eyes, still not trusting the priest. Kotomine rubbed the Uchiha the wrong way and all his senses screamed at him to be wary of the man.

"Ah, you wouldn't. Atrum Galliasta is just an ambitious man who is out here of his own consent." Kirei answered, taking out the file relating to the said man. "The Clock Tower is aware of this. So, they won't hold you responsible for his death. They view the Holy Grail War as just some minor ritual in the east after all."

"His Servant, you mean." Sasuke replied in turn. The priest did not seem to be bothered by Sasuke's correction.

"His Servant, or himself. It doesn't matter now that the Holy Grail War has begun." Kirei stated, his smile falling a bit. "Because that is how the wars have been waged until now. In fact, killing the Master's is common, even recommended."

For a priest, he's able to talk about death quite easily… Sasuke noted, before taking the file from the priest. If he starts murdering people without a care in the world, then there wouldn't be much of a difference between him and the murderer who robbed the life of the doc's son. Just thinking about it made him feel sick.

"Do you perhaps feel guilty of what you are about to do?" Kirei raised an eyebrow, studying the face of the Uchiha to gauge his reactions.

"I could care less about whether he dies, or his Servant dies." Sasuke stated coldly. He was surprised by how easily the words came to him. "I just don't want the police on my back after this war is over."

"I will be able to handle anything on that end. It is part of my job as the overseer after all," Kirei smiled again, reassured of the boy's reply.

This was sort of a trial to see whether the boy really held any similarities to the Magus Killer, Kiritsugu. Kiritsugu's own adopted son left him with a different impression than he expected. Very different than what he thought that man's adopted son would be like, but maybe Sasuke could provide the answer he sought all these days from Kiritsugu.

He let another one of his morbid smiles grace his face as he observed the Uchiha walk out of the church with the file in his hand.

 **(((Finding oneself)))**

Saber attacked while Berserker was kept busy by the relentless attacks of Lancer, each attack in itself held the strength to break through whatever defense the enemy Servant had. While Berserker was extremely agile, few of the attacks still managed to pierce through his defenses from time to time dealing flesh wounds.

Though, she had to commend Berserker. Even after losing his sanity, he still managed to avoid wounds to this vitals. Many Heroic spirit would have been killed ten times over by now yet here he was, still standing. Despite his now evident disadvantage, the hulking Servant stood tall against both her and Lancer.

Another tree was uprooted, and slid past her as she dashed past the graves in the cemetery, and dealt another glancing wound to the beast. Since they were fighting the Berserker now in the cemetery, support from Archer was pointless due to the multiple obstacles covering the area, not to mention his arrows lack of effectiveness.

Lancer did well on his part to stay out of her attacks whenever she approached to make them. Another three to four clashes were made collectively before Berserker could respond, and when the final blow was about to be dealt, Berserker let out a roar and leaped back away from her and Lancer.

Saber halted in her tracks, her eyes on Berserker before taking a quick look around at the destruction that was caused due to their brief clash. Something that wasn't possible by ordinary humans. While the battles between Servants could be truly magnificent to watch, they were just as devastating in terms of destruction caused to the surrounding areas.

She took a peek at the peerless warrior whose expression hadn't changed at all during this fast paced conflict, like he wasn't troubled at all facing this mindless beast. Maybe she was focusing on the wrong target here. Maybe Lancer was the most dangerous of the Servants summoned in this war, like how she was caught up between Rider and Archer of the previous war.

But, for now her opponent was Berserker. Saber raised her invisible sword at Berserker again and decided to spare few final words to her opponent before she brought him down, "We are Heroic Spirits... we who walked our respective paths unto the bitter end. I would love to exchange names but all we can do is exchange blows meant to kill each other. I shall answer with a strike using my full might. This is where you die Berserker!"

Lancer's gaze met hers briefly for a moment before he launched himself at Berserker.

The golden knight showed why his class held the reputation of being the most agile by increasing the rate of his attacks against Berserker. The speed and strength behind his attacks were absurd. His strength although not on the same level as Berserkers was definitely on the same level as her own which was nothing to scoff at in and of itself, as the peerless warrior dodged a counter attack aimed at his throat, before thrusting his spear forward with lightning speed.

Each thrust ripped apart a crucial organ, artery, or tore apart tendons before Lancer moved out of his way for Saber to deal the finishing blow. She charged forward, prana focused around her invisible blade, as the air around the blade cleared to reveal a sword unlike any other, a blade not made by mankind, but a gift from the Faes.

Dazzling golden light radiated from her sword, as she weaved her blade in a deadly pattern in the air at the incapacitated Berserker. With one final thrust the power gathered expelled forward, splitting the body of Berserker almost in half, as the glow in his eyes vanished.

The air around Saber's sword was restored, as she stood still, her head bent a little paying her final respects to the slain Heroic Spirit.

Skidding to a stop after leaping away, Lancer watched Saber with both appreciation and approval from behind, as he let his divine spear rest against his shoulder. He had just witnessed the brave and noble fighting spirit of an honorable warrior. He had even discerned her identity when she revealed her sword for a brief moment, for anyone could recognize the blade she hid beneath a sheath of wind once they set their eyes upon it.

Because of being summoned by the grail, he was provided with the knowledge of various legends and myths of other cultures. So, he now knew who the person in front of him exactly was. To think he would be summoned in the same war as the King of Knights.

An honest and noble person who shouldered the entire burden of those under her rule, rather than letting others bear it. A true hero right down to her core, however Karna also knew it was for that very same reason why her kingdom eventually fell, yet he could not condemn her. For he too had taken similar actions as the Hero of Charity.

Yet, this Saber reminded him of another person, more than she did himself, yes… this Saber truly was most similar to _him_. It seemed as if this encounter was no accident, but some sort of destiny at work. Feelings of reminiscences filled his vision, before he took note of the slight twitch in Berserker's fingers.

So, the battle hasn't concluded yet. The grip Lancer had on his spear tightened.

" _Lancer, that's enough._ "

Lancer stopped whatever his preparations for battle, and stood still upon hearing Sasuke's voice ring in his mind.

" _We need some time to prepare for tomorrow's battle. Retreat for now with whatever information you managed to obtain._ "

"Understood." Lancer nodded, before turning towards Saber.

"My Master is calling for me. We shall have our duel some other time, Saber."

Saber was surprised, but quickly got over it, as she lowered her sword. "Very well, Lancer. I hope to exchange blows with you in an honorable setting in the near future."

"I must say luck has been on my side to have battled alongside you, Oh King of Knights. However, your battle hasn't ended just yet."

Saber wasn't surprised at how Lancer knew her identity. After her attack, any who set eyes on her blade would know who she was. What confused her were the other Servant's words.

"Farewell, Saber." Before Saber could say anything in return, Lancer abruptly turned into spirit form and disappeared.

Meanwhile, the spectators who were watching the battle finally let out their breaths which they didn't realize were holding. Rin, in particular was happy that there was at least something beneficial of the whole arrangement. Alas, her joy was only short lived as Archer spoke to her.

"That teamwork was indeed magnificent, but we aren't done yet. Get back, Rin." An arrow, no, a sword which was shaped into the equivalent of an arrow came forth. The shear power which radiated off of the weapon in his hand would have made any sane Heroic Spirit cautious. The blade of the sword coiled into a spiral which made it look as if could pierce any defense. The Servant of the Bow took aim from a far off building, hitting a target from this range would be impossible for any human. Yet, he was a Heroic Spirit because he was capable of such feats. The sword turned arrow was carefully notched onto his bow, the shape was altered further as he pulled back on the string and took aim at his intended target.

"Get back? What do you mean we aren't done yet?" Rin argued, before it dawned on her.

Shirou looked towards Rin's perplexed expression before he felt a shock run through his system. The redhead immediately ran towards Saber who was standing close to Berserker's corpse, upon realizing what Archer was going to do. "Saber!"

Saber got what Lancer meant when she observed the tendons in Berserker's body string among itself, forming a knit of kinky flesh. "Regeneration. No. It's almost like time reversal a curse of resurrection. A Noble phantasm activated upon death." Her eyes snapped in horror towards Shirou who was running towards her. "Shirou, stay back!"

Shirou did stop, but not because of Saber's warning, but because he felt that shock, something like a tug in the direction Archer should have been. He immediately turned his head back, and ran towards Saber in haste. The moment he snatched her hand, he started to run away from the regenerating Berserker, not bothering to explain even when she put on a confused expression.

The sky around the area seemed to be illuminated for a brief second behind Shirou and Saber's back, before a deafening noise completely encased the area followed by a major explosion. Rubble blasted away, trees burned and the entire area was devastated in less than a second.

Even after all the mini inferno that graced the cemetery...

"No way, he's still standing!?"

Just as Rin stated, Berserker stood in between the inferno without any scratches.

"Hm, I changed my mind about you, Rin. Your archer is impressive. Earlier none of his attacks were able to harm Berserker, but that last attack was able to do more than I expected." The spectator who remained silent since the battle began with the clash of Lancer and Berserker finally spoke. "That's enough. Return to me, Berserker. I had hoped to get rid of the boring stuff first, but my plans have changed."

"What's wrong? You're running away?"

Illya turned towards Rin who was glaring at her. "Yes. I am retreating. I don't care about Saber, but your Archer and that Lancer have piqued my interest. So, you have my permission to live a little longer."

Her gaze turned towards the redhead, who barely survived the blast just now. "Okay, bye-bye. Let's play again some other time, Onii-chan." With that, Berserker and her Master left the field too.

Saber, who popped up beside Shirou turned towards him before looking at his hand, which was tightly wrapped around hers. "Master, I thank you for your quick thinking, but would you mind unhanding me?"

"Oh, right. Sorry!" Shirou quickly released his hold and jumped back in embarrassment, before he felt something wrong inside him. "...huh?"

"Shirou, what's wrong?"

He was immediately brought down to his knees, blood left his mouth and splattered onto the ground.

"Shirou! Hold on!" Saber pleaded, shouting his name. "Shirou!" Her last plea caught Rin's attention, as Emiya completely collapsed.

 **(((Finding oneself)))**

Lancer, having just witnessed the collapse of an enemy Master, turned towards his own when he felt something wrong. "Master, are you unwell?"

"I'll be fine." Sasuke answered in a flat voice, trying to dissuade his Servant's worries. He had placed his hand in front of his left eye, and was struggling against the urge to gasp in pain.

Lancer knew that Sasuke was lying, for he was able to see through any lie, but didn't say anything regarding it. He allowed his Master some time to collect himself, as his narrowed eyes turned towards Rin who was seen running towards Emiya.

Sasuke removed his hand from his eye before he squinted at the downed form of the fallen Master.

"...To think that even you were dragged in, Shirou."

Sparing one last glance, Sasuke strode away from the high cliff where he stood followed by Lancer who returned to his spirit form. And, thus, the first clash of the Fifth Holy Grail War had ended.

* * *

 **(AN)** So, this entire chapter was sort of dedicated to the clash between servants. Hoping that the servants were in character. Next chapter may not have any action scenes, so just a head's up.

And, I really don't know what to say about the recent Apocrypha episode. I know the plot deteriorated after the fall of Vlad, but the anime adaptation is even worse. Many key scenes were left out that it makes no sense to only anime viewers. Anyway, until next time.


	5. A New Day

**(AN)** I am happy to see that the fight in the previous chapter was well received. It took a while to get this chapter out, but here it is. A 10k chapter for the late update.

This chapter was beta'ed by **lioncousin** and he did a great job once again. Well, I hope you enjoy this chapter.

* * *

 **(((Finding oneself)))**

"I cannot approve of this!" Sella stared disapprovingly at her master. "You could have defeated both of them after Lancer withdrew, and yet you allowed them to escape."

The short girl simply turned her head away, annoyed a bit and was not in the mood for a lecture.

"It wouldn't have been fun to kill them right away. Rabbits should be driven into a corner and killed at the height of their terror."

"But, you had to reveal Berserker's Noble Phantasm." The taller of the two said, holding onto a soft white towel. "You should have just withdrawn the moment it became a disadvantage with three Servants banding together. Now, almost three enemies know about Berserker's abilities."

"And, leave proving that Lancer's words were indeed true!" Illya uttered angrily, curling her fists. "There's no way I am allowing Lancer, or his Master to get away after this!"

"Illya-sama…" The other stoic maid muttered.

She winced a bit, when her pale skin came in contact with hot boiling water, but didn't stop as she went further into the steaming pool. She stopped after the water reached up to her waist as she turned around, somewhat relaxed by the hot sensation against her cool skin.

"I'll admit I miscalculated Lancer's skills. He seems to have some sort of a skill that hides his true stats." She said, letting her long white hair spread in the water. "But, I won't make the same mistake next time. There's no way to counter Berserker's Noble Phantasm."

Berserker's Noble Phantasm, **God Hand: Twelve Labors** , was a continuously active-type Noble Phantasm that granted him a body that knows no death. Only attacks higher than B-rank, whether it is a normal attack, or another Noble Phantasm can harm him, and he gains resistance to it immediately as soon as he is resurrected. Furthermore, he can recover at least two lives lost once every three days due to Illya's immense magical energy. He was the strongest in the entire world, and nothing would shake Illya of her belief in him.

"What about that boy, Shirou? Surely you did not leave him out of mercy, right?"

Illya closed her eyes, sinking further into the steaming water.

"Of course I did. I know what's in store for him. He doesn't know it yet, but I am going to make him suffer in Kiritsugu's place."

 **(((Finding oneself)))**

It was a barren land, with nothing on top of it as far as the eye could see. Grey clouds covered the bluish skies giving it a much darker color suited to represent how the land itself seemed, or rather the representation of the wielder's psyche.

Countless weapons protruded from the begrimed gravel, dirt flew into the wind.

Nothing could be seen… nothing except a lone warrior crouched in a far off position. As the vision moved forward, seeming like it was heading straight for the resting man, Emiya Shirou woke up from his dream, panting, sweat stuck to his chest and forehead as he unconsciously ran his hand over the bandages around his chest like he was searching for something.

 _It hurts!_ He winced, looking down at where his fingertips were tracing across. _Dream, huh?_

It took him a while to calm down and realize what went down, before remembering everything about the previous night.

That was right! There was a golden Lancer and a huge monster fighting each other. Then, there was an explosion. Saber was also present there, but if he got injured then... Saber could also have been-

"So, you are finally awake."

His eyes slowly looked to the side of futon, before he jumped out of his bed like a stray cat would when given a bath in cold water.

"Tohsaka!?"

Right there, a few feet from his futon was none other than the school idol, Tohsaka Rin, sitting in an elegant manner befitting her reputation, dressed up and ready in her school uniform. Or, was it the same clothes she wore yesterday…?

"Ara, seems like all your wounds have healed, Emiya-kun." She gave one of her sagacious smiles.

"I see… So, you were the one that carried me here after I fell unconscious." Shirou said, looking down at the girl gratefully. "Thank you, Tohsaka."

"At least you are not as dumb as you look." Tohsaka said, pushing herself of the tatami mat. "You know how to give proper gratitude where it's due. But," She sighed, a frown appearing on her face. "I thought I already told you this before. You need not thank an enemy."

Shirou looked confused, "Huh? But, you saved me, didn't you?"

"Emiya-kun!" Rin started exasperatedly. "This Holy Grail war is a fight to the death. Just because you refuse to acknowledge them as your enemy doesn't mean they are going to do the same. Mages can be ruthless when they want to be."

"Then why didn't you kill me?" Shirou asked ardently.

"I-I just didn't feel like it!" Rin said, crossing her arms in embarrassment, knowing that she was contradicting herself. "Attacking someone while they are asleep isn't fair. Think of it only as I am lowering my guard around you but only because I know very well that I am stronger than you."

"So, you are meaning to say you won't kill me because there are other stronger enemies out there?"

"Wow, you grasp things pretty fast Emiya-kun." Rin expressed sarcastically, but Shirou took no offense to it. She stepped out of the door, trying to remember something important she wanted to tell when Emiya woke up, but was forgetting it for some reason. She shrugged, "Well, the next time we meet will probably be as enemies. So be prepared."

She almost closed the door behind her before she remembered, "Oh, right! I almost forgot. I am sure that you don't know about this, but you should probably stay away from your friend, Uchiha-kun as well."

"Huh, Sasuke?" Shirou tilted his head with a quizzical expression. "Why? Did he do something to you, Tohsaka? I know Shinji tried pulling some crazy stuff, but I don't see him doing that as well. To begin with I don't think he even knows someone like you existed in our school, but maybe he-"

"That's not the point I was trying to make!" Rin flailed her arms in anger. Shirou, who almost went on about her, paused at her flustered outburst. Calming herself almost immediately, she cleared her throat. "Listen carefully, Emiya-kun. I have come across your friend, Sasuke, almost two days back, and he too had command seals on his right wrist just like you and me, but with a different pattern."

His eyes widened slowly in realization, "Wait…! You don't mean-"

"That's right, Emiya-kun." Her eyes narrowed with a serious expression. "I have called Kirei to ask if anyone had come to withdraw from the war, but it seems like none had come. That means that your friend is probably fighting and trying to win this war too."

"But, what could he be trying to gain from this war?" Shirou sat down completely lost, looking into the palms of his hand in disbelief. The quiet boy from his classroom, the one that really didn't show much interest or enthusiasm in anything. There was even that famous incident with their PE teacher.

It couldn't be fame or money the Uchiha could be trying to wish for. Nor, was he from any mage family to be taking part just for glory. Then, he was probably dragged in… His circumstance almost sounds similar to his own. But, that also meant that his friend was gifted someone too, like he was given Saber to fight alongside in this war.

"I honestly don't know." Rin shook her head, crossing her arms as she answered after a moment giving Shirou some space to think. "But, just like everyone else, even he must have something he desires. Nevertheless that makes two enemies from the same school. You would do well to remember that I am not going to show any mercy to either you, or him."

With her parting words, the door was shut firmly behind her back as Shirou was left to his own thoughts.

 **(((Finding oneself)))**

 _"…Hate me, little brother."_

Uchiha Sasuke awoke gasping for air, startled as he sat upright with the sweat almost pouring down his black brow. He blinked, running the back of his pale hand to wipe of the perspiration, before shielding his eyes with it as he squinted against the bright rays.

Birds chirping filled his ears, as he heard distinct chattering of kids shouting and playing in the background. Shaking his head once more, he took deep breaths to calm his breathing down.

 _'These nightmares are becoming more intense. And, more painful since the moment I achieved these eyes.'_ The raven haired teen thought in mild irritation, gritting his teeth as he clenched his hands against his black pant. _'With the way this is going, I won't be surprised if these nightmares were somehow connected to my past. Stupid dreams!'_

"I see that you have awoken, Master." He heard Lancer's calm voice through the telepathic link between them. "My apologies. Because of my impudence you had to rest in a public park for the whole night."

It seemed like Lancer was still feeling a bit guilty for his room's condition. "I already stated that the state of my room wasn't your fault," Sasuke said, leaning his arms against his knees as he bent down to gather himself. If anyone was to blame, it was actually himself. He was so not looking forward to the day his landlady finds about his room's condition.

He rubbed his cheeks with his palms in an attempt to rid himself of the drowsiness, "Anyway, I feel a bit refreshed. Yesterday's fatigue must have really got to me."

Sasuke said, getting up and stretching his arms, ignoring how few parents in the distance asked their children to avert their eyes from him. Well, he could not blame them as he probably looked like a homeless man right now, which he was ironically considering his whole room practically burnt down.

"…"

Sasuke felt some mild uneasiness from his servant who was currently in spirit form. He could sense Lancer was hesitant about something. He was probably upset at having been called off early before the fight could have been completed, because it really looked like Lancer was enjoying himself, though he could only guess about that since Lancer had the same blank expression even as he fought.

"What is it, Lancer? Do not hesitate to speak."

Lancer stayed quiet for a few seconds as Sasuke waited, before shrugging after a second. He exited the park and started strolling down in some random street. After contemplating for a bit, Karna decided to speak up. He spoke in a low tone as to not startle the one who summoned him.

"Master, this is regarding the background of your family. Are you sure that your ancestors hadn't practiced the sacred art which is called magecraft in the current generation?"

"No, I don't think so." Sasuke stated, as he took a turn in the corner to walk down the road which was the usual route that students took to get to his school. Of course, he wasn't going to attend today as well. "Though I could have been. I am not sure. I had an accident a year ago and as a result I lost all my memories."

Karna merely glanced at his master in spirit form. He knew his master was being honest, as he possessed the skill: **Discernment of the Poor** , one that allowed him to tell if a person was lying, as well as grasping the true nature of the person. Thus, with this skill, he could never be deceived by lies and deception.

It pleased him to know that his master was in fact being truthful to him, but it also seemed like the teen was hiding something. Not that it would have made any difference. He was still going to obey whatever his master would command of him.

"What brought this on suddenly?" Sasuke questioned, hiding the curiosity in his voice as he placed his hands into his pockets. Sasuke could only guess that he must have done something to make the silent Lancer to actually take time to ask about his family's background. Perhaps the stoic Servant suddenly decided to do some bonding with him. If that was the case, then he wasn't interested.

"No, I apologize. It's nothing of much importance."

"Humor me." Sasuke still wanted to hear it even if it were something trivial. Lancer may be his Servant in this war now, but that doesn't change the fact that the Lancer was a great Heroic Spirit in his lifetime. It had to be something of importance if Lancer's asking about.

"Master, I have apparently noticed that your body for some reason isn't utilizing the mana from your magic circuits to accelerate your healing. And, seeing as I had received sufficient amounts of prana yesterday during the fight, I cannot help but be worried about the condition of your body." The golden spearman spoke, not fumbling, nor fidgeting with his words at all.

"Magic circuits…? What are they?"

Karna should have known that was the case by now. It wasn't exactly rare for people from non-mage families to be born with magic circuits, though it was an extremely rare occurrence. Nevertheless, he decided to share the knowledge that had been asked of him without any fuss, in detail.

"Magic Circuits are a pseudo-nervous system that spreads itself through the human body. Their normal functions are to act as paths that convert mana; that is energy in the nature to prana, something that mages use for high level magecraft, or for other purposes like supplying servants with it." Karna said, pausing slightly to allow his master to process the information. Luckily, his master seemed like an intellect one as he signaled him to continue almost immediately.

"Od is something that is the life-force within one's body. Everybody contains this energy, but if differs from person to person. Magic circuits may also convert this Od into prana for magecraft."

"I didn't know that magecraft was so complex. You seem to have a lot of knowledge regarding this." Sasuke admitted, genuinely surprised after hearing all this.

He maybe an ordinary high school student _now_ , but Sasuke had seen his fair share of strange and cruel things since he woke up in this world. But, it seems like there are still a lot of things that he did not know about. Maybe, that was what happened _back then_... He couldn't believe how he had missed such obvious things, when they were hiding in plain sight.

His school had freaking three magi for Kami's sake.

"It's true that I have met quite a few capable magi in my lifetime, but most of the knowledge regarding the Thaumaturgy of the current generation has been provided to me by the grail." Karna continued in his cold tone before reaching to the point he wanted to make. "Now, the reason I asked this was because even though I don't sense your body using the mana around you, strangely enough I am still being provided with sufficient amounts of prana."

Of course, Lancer did not mean to slight his Master. But, he was always the blunt one, not the sort to distort the truth, nor the facts. It could have been due to how he had led his childhood, but at least his master did not seem to be offended. In fact, he could see some kind of interest being shown on his master's face, a smirk appearing on his lips.

"Doesn't that mean that I have high amounts of this Od energy that you are talking about."

"That's one way to look at it."

"So, according to what you just explained, I should be able to perform magecraft that Rin and the Einzbern girl performed; but unlike them, I can use my own energy to execute them."

Lancer reluctantly agreed, since he was a warrior and wasn't too familiar with magecraft. "In theory, I would say yes. But, it is far more complex as one usually is in possession of a magic crest to help execute their family's thaumatagrauphy. But, then again there have been cases where magecraft has been used by individuals who don't have any crest on them."

Sasuke smirked, feeling a lot more confident in himself with this newfound information but alas his joy was only short lived as he finally took note of his surroundings, or where he was walking.

"…"

His joy deflated a second later as his eyes snapped in horror for not realizing the impending doom until it was too close for comfort. He wasn't generally careless when it came down regarding to this and he even often took extra measures just to be safe, but he could only curse his luck this time for not paying attention.

"Is it an enemy Servant?" Lancer asked, getting ready to materialize to fend off whatever danger it was that made his master gain a horrified expression.

"No, even worse."

Sasuke stated, as he turned on his heel and started sprinting backwards at full speed that would have made many renown Heroic Spirits weep in jealousy. Lancer, who was confused at first stayed there for quite some time before he got what his Master meant, as he saw smoke and dust heave of the road and until it passed through where his master was standing previously.

 _'So, this is Master's weakness,'_ The son of Surya thought in mild amusement.

A horde of girls were currently in pursuit after his Master, who probably thought Sasuke was some kind of famous model pulling a publicity stunt. Karna could only watch the speed and stealth that his Master displayed at the moment with pure admiration and wonder, seeing as Sasuke had completely vanished and was nowhere to be seen.

"With that skill and stealth of his, I think he can even qualify as an Assassin class Servant with enough training." The usually stoic spear man nodded to himself, muttering words full of pride, all the while standing on a telephone pole in spirit form, observing from some distance how his Master was escaping from the talons of the harpies who sought after him.

 **(((Finding oneself)))**

Rin's nose scrunched up as she stared at the scene in front of her with disgust and repugnance. Fortunately for her, no one was present in the abandoned alleyway at the current moment.

She carefully bent under the 'Keep Away' banner and went inside to get a closer look at the scene where the most recent crime had taken place. She had already taken precautions in setting up the bounded field, since it would be troublesome if any of her schoolmates saw her in a place like this.

The cement ground was stained with dried up blood, air still stagnant smelling of iron. Covering her nose with the sleeve of her right arm, she moved right into the center of the crime scene looking for any clues that the police might have left behind.

But, all that was left were the white outlines providing the outlines of the decimated victims.

"Well?" She questioned, as a moment later particles around her vibrated signifying that Archer took form in the material world.

"Around seven people were killed three days ago," Archer reported, looking down at the same outline mark that Rin was staring hard at. "The weapons used were not guns, but some kind of a weapon used to slice up your opponents. The blood splatters wouldn't look like this otherwise, I am guessing that it was mostly done by someone at least skilled with a blade. The evidence was burnt later by whoever did this."

It wasn't really hard for Archer to know who had caused this. His initial guess when he had examined the dead bodies was that it was most likely Assassin's crafty work seeing as he had already engaged him in battle, but he did not really see any benefit the tattooed servant could gain by killing random people; unless he wanted to consume their souls.

And, besides Assassin wasn't the sort to use weapons. He was the guy who solely relied on his martial arts, as the guy had boasted in their battle much to Archer's distaste. So, that wasn't a possibility either.

So, it was likely done by the human organization that has been all over the news these past few years, the group that has self-proclaimed themselves as the protectors of the innocent, the Robin Hood wannabes. It wasn't hard to guess that the group had likely sent an assassin of their own to take care of the lackeys of the Yakuza gang that had recently set its foot into this town.

That didn't really concern him either, but since his Master had asked him to look into this matter, he would duly respond as he can to the best of his abilities. Like, for example taking care of the trash. Okay, he wasn't exactly proud of it either but still it was his duty according to his master.

"I wasn't asking about who died and how they died." Rin turned to look at Archer with a serious expression, derailing his thoughts. "I wanted to know if a magus was responsible this."

There was a technique that a magus participating in the Holy Grail war would sometimes employ. By having their Servant devour the souls of humans they could replenish their magical energy without taxing the Master.

Admittedly it's not the best technique out there and was a deplorable act in general so it was not even worth considering in Rin's books, but it was still a valid method that Masters may choose to use.

"Doesn't seem so." Archer bent down, and wiped some of the dirt with his finger. He, then rubbed it in between his two fingers, and took a sniff before getting up. "I think it's just a normal murder. Plus, the people that were killed were probably nothing more than grunts that did the groundwork for the gang in this region. People like them have rivals. Anyone of them could have done this."

"I see." Rin gazed at the scene for a while longer, before she decided that maybe Archer was indeed right. Plus, it was still the start of the Holy Grail war, but, as many accidents involved with magecraft were occurring lately, she did not see any reason not to investigate this one as well.

Just as she was about to leave the area, she noticed a small torn cloth near a telephone pole. It was in perfect blend with the background that it was very easy to miss. And, with many incidents happening lately, it was possible that the police might have missed it. She went and picked it up.

It was burnt all around at the edges, but she was still able to recognize it after focusing some of her energy into her eyes.

"No way!" There was some disbelief in her voice.

"What's wrong, Rin?" Archer stood beside her and took a look at the cloth. "Wait, doesn't that cloth belong to..."

"Yes. It is a part of our school's uniform, or rather part of the boy's school uniform," Rin looked at Archer sternly. "That means that someone from my school may have been involved in this mess."

 **(((Finding oneself)))**

The Uchiha were likely a group of Assassins, according to the doc. Yet, there were no records of such a group in the record books. But, Sasuke supposed it was because of that very feat, his family could be considered as a clan of Assassins.

So, as a teen that was supposed to belong to an assassin family, it was perfectly acceptable to show your enemies your back, because assassins were the ones who were very good at judging a situation. They never go for a frontal attack, unless they were absolutely sure in their skills to confront the enemy. Retreating was a major part of the tactics employed by such groups, and despite priding themselves in stealth, it would be foolish to go against forces you know you can't stand a chance of defeating.

Whoever begged to differ, or criticize him for being a coward for retreating could go and shove their opinions up their ass.

He was currently crouched behind the raspberry bushes in an abandoned park, holding his breath as he listened to his heartbeat beating wildly against his chest. Yet, he dared not make a noise, for he was paranoid that even the slightest sound would give away his position to the hybrid beasts known as 'fangirls.' Where was Shinji when he actually needed him?

He regretted not taking Rin's advice the first time she commented on his choice of clothing. As a result, he was now being pursued by college girls who thought he was one of those famous idols that were hot sensations these days on the internet. Curse those stupid models and curse their fangirls!

Taking Lancer's help was out of the question, due to the unspoken rule of keeping magecraft a secret. Despite how much the Uchiha hated fangirls he wasn't going to needlessly endanger them.

"Um… senpai?"

He resisted the urge to sigh, before he slowly got up from the bush after a few seconds in silent resignation. He turned around slowly to find the sweet face of Matou Sakura much to his relief, curiously looking at him, all the while standing gracefully with her hands positioned to her front.

"It's you, huh?"

He breathed out in relaxation after finding that there was no else around her. As he ran his hands through his messy hair, he eyed her school uniform and the bag she held tightly in her hands. Her being present here meant that the school was finished for the day. Damn, he had wasted a lot of time.

"Um, is everything alright?"

He met her unsure expression and nervous smile as he lifted his eyes. He then realized that he had been caught staring at her.

"Sorry, I didn't mean to stare." He bowed his head slightly.

"Uh, no it's fine." She shook her head quickly with a nervous expression. Seeing the older male in front of her apologizing to her felt like a miracle to her. No, she was sure anyone who would be in her position would feel the same. Because, from what she heard from her classmates, Uchiha Sasuke was the epitome of cool and coldness, one that did not give a shit regarding others.

"Did you need me for something?"

She was snapped out of her daze as the older raven in front of her eyed her curiously. "W-Well, you weren't at school today, so Nii-san asked me to go to your place. But, then I saw you here…" She spoke hesitantly, feeling a bit intimidated as Sasuke stood with a calm expression.

"H-He said that you were supposed to deliver some package that belonged to grandfather."

 _'She must be asking about the package that got burned up. Looks like the Matous called the postal office.'_

Sasuke thought for a moment, looking at the girl thinking about the consequences he would face when they learn that the package was now burnt well beyond recovery.

"Yeah, I'll have it sent to Shinji tomorrow. You can tell him that."

"Um, okay." She spoke, offering him a polite bow before she turned to leave.

Sasuke also turned his head the opposite way, deciding to head home to do something about that package, but-

"…"

Sakura was now a few meters away from the park and was on her way to Emiya's compound, seeing as Shirou hadn't attended the school today. She heard few quick footsteps behind her as she looked to her side to see her brother's classmate catch up to walk alongside her, as if he had forgotten something.

"…"

It seemed like she was really in a dream. First, the one that revered highly by her classmates apologized to her, and now he was walking beside her as if they were... She knew many of her school girls would give anything to be in her position. If any of his aggressive fans were see to them walking together right now, she was sure she would not reach home unscathed. She suspected that even her self proclaimed guardian could do anything.

Or, maybe he would flock all the girls towards him. It was hard to say what her guardian would do if that were to pass.

"S-Senpai? Is something wrong?"

Sasuke turned his head around, as if it was a normal thing for him to be walking with her. "Oh, don't mind me."

She didn't know how to respond back for a while as her mind went blank. But, after the moment of astonishment had faded, she turned again.

"Is senpai's home also in the direction of Shirou senpai's house by any chance?" She politely asked again, not thinking too much on why senpai decided to walk her.

"It's not." He spared a glance behind him, before quickly looking to his front with a slightly mortified expression. "But… I figured that I could at least provide you with some company until you reach wherever you are going, since you had to look for me and trouble yourself on my behalf."

Sasuke knew that was as a half-assed answer, but Shinji's sister wasn't like her annoying brother to outright disagree to such a request, nor was she meddlesome enough like Rin to be asking pointless questions.

 _"Deception is generally not good as it tampers with the relationships one builds with others. But, perhaps it is considered acceptable in this particular case, seeing as Master has to escape from his arch nemesis."_

He didn't know if Lancer was being sarcastic right now, or was actually being honest with what he was saying.

The streets had become a silent place in the presence of the red rays of the sun. Both Sasuke and Sakura were quiet throughout for the most part of the journey, with Sasuke sneaking glances occasionally at his surroundings to make sure no one was following or chasing after him. But, after some time it had started to become weird.

He may be getting paranoid, but since he began walking alongside the shy sister of Shinji, he hadn't noticed a single person in the area. It was like some sort of repellent was applied to the area.

After everything that has happened so far, it would be foolish to ignore the possibility he was walking into a trap, since he still didn't know the identity of three of the other masters. If he really was, that also meant dragging the girl beside him into his mess. If it was her brother present right now, he wouldn't have cared nearly as much, but that wasn't quite the situation.

He wasn't heartless enough to drag an innocent girl into his battles.

"Sakura, I am sorry to trouble you. But, could you go on your own now. I am sure Shirou's house is close by." It wasn't hard to guess where she was going to, as Shinji often spat about it to him whenever he got the chance. Of course, Sasuke never really asked for it, but Shinji wouldn't budge without getting that matter of his chest each time he learnt that Sakura visited Emiya.

The purple color haired girl blinked, turning to look at the frown that the tall person held beside her had. Something must be wrong seeing as her senpai scowled more than he usually did, but decided to just do as he said anyway.

"Hai."

He watched silently as the young girl walked and disappeared away from his sight. Then, he let out a deep sigh, picking up a sturdy metal rod that was lying on the side and started to sprint in the alley opposite to the one she took.

The one he took was abandoned as well just like he had guessed. So, it was a trap after all.

"Lancer! Watch after the girl. And, return immediately once she had reached safely."

"Understood." He heard Lancer's reply through the telepathic link. "But, to be safe, I advise not to do anything reckless until I arrive. Somebody has set up a bounded field in this area to drive away the people. I suspect it's the enemy's work, but I can't sense any enemy servant in this region."

Sasuke nodded, as the air behind him blew, particles shifting as Lancer leaped behind to follow after the girl.

The last Uchiha sprinted across the deserted streets. He stopped himself after running quite some distance, taking support from the lamp pole beside him. He panted, catching his breath before he noticed strange patterns carved into the ground few meters ahead of him.

"…!"

The whole area seemed to dim, as the atmosphere around him felt like it dropped a few degrees. Before he could react in any way, the area beneath his feet began to glow in a peculiar red aura. Strange grey creatures, seemed to be modeled after skeletons rose from the glowing road, slowly rising from all directions and all facing towards their target of elimination. Him.

He had already guessed something like this would occur. Anyone who witnessed Lancer's strength in yesterday's fight would have naturally gone after him; the weak and inexperienced Master. But, just because he did not possess any knowledge regarding magecraft meant that he was weak. He was quite proficient in martial arts.

"Well, it could get a lot weirder."

Sasuke had a flat look, before he swiftly leaped to his front to dodge a blow from one the creatures that had spawned close to him. He then flicked the rod in his hand to block a blow from another skeleton in front of him, he let his eyes scan the surrounding area that was now completely deserted with only him and a small horde of these mindless creatures.

The situation was starting to look bleak. His only saving grace was that the impact of the skeleton's blow wasn't as heavy as he had thought it would be. If he played his cards right he should be able to hold out until his Servant's return.

He slightly crouched down, the rod he had in his hand found itself in a reverse grip that felt oddly natural to the Uchiha. The next moment he lunged forth, dealing a swift blow to the creatures head. He wasn't able to push any offensive as he was forced to dodge a horizontal slash from a skeleton behind him by bending low, the whistle of their crude weapon sang overhead. With a quick roll forward to avoid any potential follow up, the raven-haired teen was able to get back on his feet and ready himself once more.

The skeleton that he had previously knocked down, slowly got up again which he took note out of the corner of his vision.

 _'It wasn't enough, huh?'_

Despite being surrounded by close to a dozen skeleton creatures that generally shouldn't be walking around, he still had a smirk on his face.

 _'What better time than now to try this.'_

He closed his eyes, standing still for a moment despite the impending danger around him. The creatures around began to advance towards him in their slow, relentless steps. One of the creatures that had reached him, raised its arm to end the teen.

But, the blow never connected. The arm that tried was now dislocated from the offender's body, as a set of red eyes were now boring into the dragon tooth warriors surrounding the raven-haired teen.

Two creatures attacked him simultaneously this time, only to be easily dealt with by the Uchiha who targeted their legs perturbing their movement. He realized his speed had dramatically increased, and he was able to see each and every movement of the enemies in front of him clearly. You could say he was now able to predict the movements of the dragon tooth warriors, a form of clairvoyance almost.

 _'So, this is what these eyes can do.'_ He easily evaded another straightforward attack by leaning back, before dealing a blow with his rod by attacking at the weakest position he scanned with his eyes. It took him surprisingly no time at all to get used to the new perception of his surroundings that his eyes gave him.

 _'Now that I think about it, their attacks, while accurate are not refined. They are pretty straight-forward. If only I had my blade instead of this rusty rod, I would have finished them off by now.'_

Sasuke had a look of displeasure, as he dealt a heavy blow on the head to the creature in front of him. Another tooth warrior behind him swung its blade at Sasuke, who tried to block it with the rod he held in his hand but failed.

After taking impact of so many strikes, the steel rod finally gave into the pressure and broke. With a click of his tongue, Sasuke managed to kick the skeleton away from him. However, that was too close. If he had been any slower, that could have gravely injured him.

As he stood with the broken iron rod in his hand, with the peach painted wall to his back, dragon tooth warriors after his life surrounding him in all directions, he vaguely recalled Lancer's words.

"Use the mana in my body to give form to the image in my mind, to release my magecraft into the world…"

He mumbled to himself in a low tone. He closed his eyes in concentration despite the impending danger surrounding him, feeling up the abundant energy that had been flowing up in his body the moment his eyes had activated. He tried to picture the particles in his body vibrating very quickly around their place, almost as if he was trying to stir them up to high speeds to produce rapidly oscillating waves. He couldn't say why he decided on this course of action. Just that he knew it felt natural. Sasuke began to hear what could almost be described as birds chirping. The sound itself was familiar and pleasant.

He opened his eyes in surprise to find the rod in his hand to be covered in blue crackles of lightning, electrocuted completely along its length along with his right wrist. Yet, strangely he wasn't feeling the pain which should have followed an intense electric current pulsing through his arm. If anything his fingertips tingled. It was as if his body was already accustomed to this feeling and a peculiar sense of deja vu assaulted him. Even the emotionless creatures that slowly edged their way towards him paused reflexively at the sight of the blue tendrils of electricity that crackled all around him.

He looked at the weapon again triumphantly, before giving it a smooth twirl.

"Hn, now this is more suitable to be a weapon. Come!"

Sasuke brought the newly electrified rod to bear without a moment's pause. More of those creatures appeared, all around him; even on the walls, a few crawling their way down the telephone pole. With the ground underneath him slightly cracking due to the high voltage which emitted from his form. He charged at the creatures in front of him like a speeding bullet.

The dragon tooth creatures' structure were shattered as though they were paper and wood. Another creature attempted to crush the raven-haired youth with its immensely large body, but Sasuke simply changed the grip of the broken rod and launched his sunken body upwards, blowing the mundane creature away with just the electric currents circulating around him.

His movements contained experience he shouldn't have had; nothing short of a seasoned pro. He shouldn't have had these kinds of reflexes, not this familiarity with combat, but it was there and now wasn't the time to question it. The previously broken dull rod he held was now something that it could have never achieved on its own. Now it transformed into a ruthless killing machine, cutting down enemies with finesse and no mercy.

His eyes picked up movement above him, and in one fluid motion he flung his weapon into the skeleton, pieces of its body flew as it shattered on impact. He, then instantly again imagined the flowing energy in him, and pictured it flowing from his body into his surroundings. The surrounding air had briefly heated to high temperatures, the blue tendrils of electricity traveled across the road at lighting speed and electrocuted all the creatures near him before rendering them useless.

One final smug expression settled on Sasuke's face, before he was brought to his knees. The adrenaline and satisfaction of combat had left his body and now he was feeling the effects of his trial. His body felt hot, uncomfortably so, and cold sweat settled on his forehead. The mystic eyes faded away a second later, and he involuntarily brought his hands over his left eye, resisting the urge to gasp due to the pain that assaulted his entire body.

 _'This pain...'_

It seems that whatever he used just now was imperfect. Like he had just forced it out. That wasn't how he observed Rin and that white haired girl cast their attacks, nor did they experience any sort of backlash. Maybe, it was because... Seems like it was finally time to recover the scrolls that he had given away.

The scrolls among other items that they found with him when he was brought to the hospital. He had given it away to the doc for safe keeping since he didn't understand anything about it.

Because, what was he supposed to expect by weaving around hand signs in public other than causing people to believe that he had lost his shit and had gone crazy?

But, now he was convinced that maybe the hand signs had something to do with the prana, or whatever that Lancer said he had in his body. Maybe, he could finally discover the secrets, or rather rediscover the techniques of the scrolls. That would hugely boost his chances in the coming battles.

In the meantime, one of the creatures that had survived the onslaught, jumped from the top of the telephone pole beside its target—who was completely immersed in his thoughts, and was about to bring down the sword in its hand to end the life of its target, who was now also well past his limit.

But, before its attack could reach its target, it was obliterated in mid-air by a golden lance. The white haired servant arrived just in the nick of time and settled himself onto the top of the very same pole that the last remaining skeleton was just on.

 _'Seems like I was too late. But…'_ The golden Lancer contemplated. The whole area was filled with disintegrating dragon tooth warriors—which he recognized immediately. His eyes landed onto the back of his Master who was now on all fours.

 _'But, it seems like Master was somehow able to take care of them.'_

The creatures that were littered all around the place were nothing but familiars used by what was most likely a Caster class Servant. To Karna's knowledge, only a select few in history could actually summon these creatures to fight for them. They were of no match in general to a Heroic Spirit, even in larger numbers.

But, for an ordinary person, even one could be quite overwhelming. To think that his master was able to take care of not one but around two dozen of them was indeed a feat. It seems like he had underestimated his Master, but that only raised more questions.

It was generally impossible for a normal human to destroy skeleton creatures in numbers as this. In fact, combating even one would prove difficult due to the fact they were naturally more sturdy than the normal individual. Even some magi could get overwhelmed if they weren't careful. So, did that mean his Master was actually part of a lineage that had lost itself in the abyss of time?

But that still leaves the question as to how he was able to accomplish the task itself. To the Servant of the Lance's knowledge, his Master had no crest. So, his knowledge of whatever spells he used didn't come from that, so from where did it emerge from?

Nevertheless, it put his heart to ease, knowing that his Master was indeed capable of defending himself until he could arrive to protect him.

"But, I would still wish if you were to refrain from taking such reckless actions in the future."

Lancer remarked, landing in an elegant posture beside the raven-haired youth. Although his tone sounded cold, Sasuke could tell his Servant was only reprimanding him for his own sake.

"It depends. Besides, I think whoever was responsible for this was just testing me," Sasuke answered. He pushed himself of the ground, fighting against the pain which still assaulted his body. "…what about the girl?"

"She had safely reached the destination she intended to go to. I also sensed an enemy Servant's presence in the compound. It seemed like it belonged to the Saber that I fought with yesterday. It won't take long for the King of Knights to figure out my position. I would suggest retreating, seeing as you already spent yourself quite a bit." Lancer answered, looking around, before settling his gaze somewhere in the distance to his north, in the direction of the Ryuudou temple.

He continued, "Also, I get the feeling that we are being watched. It would be better to get away from here as soon as possible."

"Hn."

Sasuke grunted silently in agreement. Lancer's stoic personality although different was close enough to his own that he was getting the feeling that he was talking to himself at times. That meant arguing was impossible. Talk about Karma.

 **(((Finding oneself)))**

It took her a day to reach the Haneda International Airport in Tokyo, including transfer and waiting times. It was past seven—thick, black-gray clouds filled the sullen sky, as though it were on the verge of tears.

Although she had been granted knowledge of this airport, built with the newest construction techniques, it still came across as novel to her.

Her legs felt heavy, probably because she had been sitting the whole time. During the long air journey, she spent half her time thinking about the reasons she was summoned for this Grail War, and used the other half praying for a safe journey. Thanks to her knowledge as a Servant, she fully understood what kind of transport a plane was. But that was different from actually going inside one. The fact was, she did not want to understand why that mass of metal could fly through the air... In truth, she was simply glad that they did not fall out of the sky.

The sight of such a defenseless-looking girl tottering about with a bag in her hands must seem like the easiest mark in the world to the low-lives that hung around the airport... but it never even occurred to them to lay a hand on her. They were not so unruly as to drag mud into a pure pond.

Fuyuki City laid to the south-west. She will have to use some form of transportation to get there, either taking a bus or boarding another one of those giant metal objects which rode on tracks this time at high speeds...

"Hmph."

The instant she stepped out of the airport, Ruler felt a couple of gazes on her.

However, she couldn't detect any Servants within the limits of the detection boundary centered on her—a radius of ten kilometers.

Ruler can nullify even the **Presence Concealment** skill of Assassins. If she cannot sense any powerful detection abilities despite feeling others' gaze...

"Then it must be remote viewing, or familiars."

Generally, there were two methods where thaumaturgy can allow one to see far-off things. The first was remote viewing—using a crystal ball, a mirror or such to observe a distant location. As long as there was some form of medium, magi could observe any place they wanted from the safety of their workshop. Most magi have mastery of this type of thaumaturgy.

The other was by using a familiar—creating a pseudo-living being by modifying a small animal or organism. By joining the causal lines between master and familiar, one can share its five senses. This is also considered a basic type of thaumaturgy for most magi.

Scanning the grey skies, Ruler noticed innumerable doves looking at her direction. It would seem that they are familiars—but, try as she might, she could not see the light of intelligence in their eyes. Normally, by being granted the hair or blood of a magus, the creature that becomes a familiar gains a degree of intelligence. While it cannot quite speak, its intellect should be quite detectable.

Yet they look for all the world like simple doves, though it was unmistakable that they are observing her. Were they being controlled by hypnotic suggestions? That would be quite a roundabout method.

Ruler glared, first at the direction from which she was being observed from, then at the doves. Her gaze did not contain any sort of prana or power, but it helped clear her thoughts.

The sensation of being observed disappeared, and the doves all flew off at once. Ruler sighed when she confirmed this.

In essence, a Ruler does not take part in the Holy Grail War... however, as the position demands that it brings judgment upon Servants and Masters that violate rules, a fitting amount of combat strength was required.

Not many have experienced the Holy Grail War twice or thrice and even amongst those, it was doubtful that any has ever taken part in one where a Ruler manifested. Perhaps, they wanted to measure the power of such a Servant.

"More and more, it seems this war will require some difficult judgment on my part..." She sighed deeply. "Whatever the case, I must first head to Fuyuki City..."

Murmuring to herself, Ruler started looking for a bus, only to find that none were currently available. After inquiring around, it turned out that there would not be a bus to Fuyuki City until tomorrow. Left with no choice, Ruler asked around to see if there was anyone heading to Fuyuki.

She was pleased when a lean old man with gray hair, wearing round glasses that loosely hung over his nose and sporting a gray beard said that he would take her along.

"Yes, I'm heading to Fuyuki myself."

"Is it really okay...?" She asked with an unsure expression, looking at the fancy black limousine in front of her.

"No problem. But, Fuyuki isn't really a tourist spot, you know. Not since the incident that happened ten years ago. Sure, they've really pulled themselves back up, but that incident remained as a scar forever in Japan's history."

"I am a transfer student that's supposed to study in one of the school's there. Could you please help?"

"Well, all right, if that's the case. Hope right in!" The door to the expensive car opened, the old man moving to his side. "It's not every day you get to give a ride to such a beautiful young lady."

"Thank you for your kind words and generosity, sir." Ruler bowed her head in earnest, before getting into the car.

"Ah, such a kind girl. If only that brat of mine could learn a thing or two from you."

The old man laughed as her luggage was being placed in the back by the driver. Ruler only offered a polite smile in return, not asking who he was referring to.

"So, which school are you attending?" The old man asked, making small talk. "As far as I know there is only one school in the area. I think its name was Homura High School or something."

"Um, the same one. I won't be in that school for long however." Ruler offered a smile. "It is supposed to a one-month trip at the most."

"I see. Well, one of the kids I know studies in the same school. If you meet him, could you say hi for me?"

"Uh, sure." She said, hesitantly. She was just joining the school for formality. She wasn't planning on attending. Though she wanted to, her position as Ruler made it difficult. But, in case she did attend this school. "What is his name?"

"Sasuke. Uchiha Sasuke. He is actually pretty easy to spot. You'll find him brooding in some corner of the classroom." The old man laughed again, as Ruler could only offer an awkward smile at his joke. After the door of the driver seat was firmly shut, the car shook a little as the engine was started and began to move. As the car smoothly rumbled on, Ruler watched many tall buildings pass by.

The speed at which the vehicle sped, the comfort the seats held and the lighting inside the car caused Ruler to stare at the vehicle in awe.

"Yes... quite different from a horse carriage."

And, with having been told that it would take at least two to three hours to reach their destination, Ruler decided to spend her time wisely. She took out a textbook from her bag since she probably wouldn't get the chance to attend the school. But, she was quite delighted that a country girl like her had a chance to study, albeit even if it was slim.

However, while the Holy Grail had bestowed upon her the knowledge she needed to survive in the modern world, it did not go so far as to teach her the contents of this book. In other words, Ruler only knew as much as the girl she was possessed.

Ruler began with the math textbook, as a sense of foreboding for the tribulations to come filled her.

 **(((Finding oneself)))**

"Hmph, it seems someone else appears to have taken an interest in the young man."

Assassin stifled his laughter from where he stood, his arms crossed as he leaned against the wall just beside the huge doors of the church.

"If you've got something you want to say, then you may say it out loud, Assassin."

Assassin merely chuckled again, "It's rare to see you lose your cool, priest." He shook his head, as if correcting himself, "Hmmm, that's not quite right.. You never really showed much emotion to begin with since I've been summoned. Or, maybe you've always been like that."

"I see that you are still quite cheerful despite what happened to your master. Or, perhaps you feel angry, and are slowly plotting your revenge all the while acting like you are obeying me."

Kirei mused a little when anger flashed for a split-second in Assassin's eyes, before he closed his eyes shrugging his shoulders.

"Well, it was really her fault, and I am not exactly one to preach about good and uphold whatever bullshit they like to spout, nor am I one of those avenger types. I am just a lone man who uses his fists." He peeked an eye open to look at the stoic priest. "So, despite how I act, you can trust me not to betray you… as long as you provide me with food, sake and ladies of course~."

Kirei ignored the goofy smile of the Tattooed servant, as he turned towards the door to greet the new arrival. But, before he could, the other man beat him to it.

"Ah, King of Heroes. I trust you had a good journey. So, now where is this wine that you were supposed to bring with you?"

"Ignore him," Kirei said, his tone carrying a hint of exasperation before focusing on the blonde in the biker jacket. He looked a bit surprised when he noticed that the oldest hero wasn't offended, but was actually looking pleased. "You look a bit excited, Gilgamesh. Did you find something that caught your attention?"

"Kirei… it seems the one that we should be most cautious of has arrived in Japan," the blonde replied, taking a seat in one of the chairs as Kirei stood beside him. "And, just in time like you had predicted."

Hearing the oldest king's words, Kirei's face tightened, his eyes carrying a bit of animosity. After all, Ruler was the one that they needed to watch the most if the manifestation of Angra Mainyu was to be a success. And, because she had been summoned so far off and with no master of her own, it was difficult to eliminate her immediately.

He did not hate her. She was simply the one existence in the entire world that could avert the manifestation of the grail. Though, there was also the fact that he had yet to find out the reason for her summoning. The grail shouldn't have been able to call forth a Ruler due to Angra Mainyu's corruption.

Nevertheless, a small smile crept up his face which wasn't missed by the King of Heroes.

"You look happy, Kirei." the blonde said, raising an eyebrow before a knowing look made it to his face. "Hn, it looks like you already prepared something entertaining without telling me."

Yes, he had indeed prepared something. Though, he wasn't sure if it would work, given the unpredictability of the young man. But, his Servant mostly seemed capable of taking out the Ruler from what he heard from Assassin.

"Yes, I do. But, you'll have to wait to see for it yourself, Gilgamesh." The priest merely chuckled, as the blonde stared at him for a moment before shaking his head. It looked like the King of Heroes had no choice but to wait and see what Kirei had planned. The priest better not fail at his job of being a playwright.

Kirei walked few steps away, and folded his hands behind him. He looked into the far distance out of the window, "Now then, I wonder how the second clash between Servants is going to take place."

 **(((Finding oneself)))**

At the same time Lancer and his Master were moving to find a place to recuperate and plan their next course of action, Rin and Archer were making their way back to the Tohsaka Manor.

"So, in the end Caster escaped from us even after all the effort we put in to chase her." The Servant clad in red commented.

Rin only shook her head, tired after all the work they strained themselves with today. "Who would have thought Caster was the one behind the coma incidents. I thought it was just some mage doing all this, but it also makes sense. A normal magus couldn't really pull all this of on his or her own, not without any help."

"So, the flow is towards the Ryuudou temple?"

"Yes," Rin said, pushing past the gates of her mansion. "The stolen life force is all flowing towards the mountains. I suspect that is the center of the Caster's territory."

Servants receive certain skills when they are assigned a class in the present world. These skills are abilities such as Assassin's Presence Concealment, Archer's unique skill of Independent Action, Saber's and Rider's Riding. Likewise, a Servant of the Caster class possessed the ability of **Territory Creation**. A skill that allowed them to build a special terrain that is advantageous to oneself as a magus, such as for the purpose of collecting mana.

"Then, what is our course of action? Do we go for a frontal attack, or would you like us to gather information first?" Archer asked, knowing full well that his Master wholeheartedly condemned Caster's actions. His Master was, to put in simple words, a kind hearted soul who could not bear the thought of innocents being dragged into her mess not if she could help it.

Rin walked carefully under the dim light of the moon, the short bushes in her garden surrounding her line of sight. She reached her front door and fished out the keys. "Well, for now I would say it would be best to observe their actions. Like you said, they know few of our abilities whereas -"

...!

Archer immediately materialized with the two blades in his hands, taking a step in front of Rin in a defensive position. Rin had a troubled expression, cursing herself for her lack of self awareness as Archer carefully opened the doorknob.

How did she not notice before that someone had disabled the defenses around her house?!

That too, it had to be an expert if she did not notice any change until it was too late.

"I sense a servant."

Archer's cold voice interrupted her line of thought. The worried look on her usually calm Servant's face said that this isn't anyone like they have encountered till now.

"Is it caster?"

"No. This is entirely someone else." Archer said, taking few steady steps into the hall of Tohsaka Mansion. "Where is-"

"Yo! You two had me waiting."

Rin nearly jumped, bumping into Archer at the sudden voice. She bent to the side and looked from around Archer to see a figure that was casually sitting on her couch, legs kept on the tea table in front. The man had on simple ornate armor with black clothing underneath. He casually threw the magazine he was reading onto the table, and stood picking up the spear that was leaning against the couch.

The spear he held was greatly different from Lancer's weapon. Lancer's massive length of divine steel utilized its sharp tip and immense weight to bring about destruction. However, the spear in front was one of simple, sturdy workmanship, well designed for close combat. From the way he held it lightly in one hand, it could be thrown as well.

Mana was basically oozing out of him. And, the way he held himself was nothing like that of a mage. No, the confidence and arrogance that the person in front was displaying, the way he puffed his chest out proudly in spite of seeing Archer confirmed only one thing. The person in front of them was a Servant, and a powerful one at that.

After grasping the history of the intruder's weapon, Archer knew that at this moment he had no chance of victory.

"Stay behind me, Rin."

"Oh, so the pretty lady's name is Rin, huh?" The green haired man had a teasing smirk, as Archer gained a dark scowl in response. "So, Oujo-sama. You are the current Tohsaka's head and this is your servant, right?"

The whole room grew thick and cold, with blood lust in an instant as the man stared at Archer and then at the blades in his hands with an offended look.

"I have already witnessed your fight yesterday, Archer. So, a mere bowman thinks he can take me on in close combat... damn, I am being held in such low regard."

The man sneered in a playful tone, overflowing with confidence. Despite not using his primary weapon, he surged with an enormous, electric will to fight. He closed his eyes as he gave a smooth twirl of the lance in his hands.

"My class is Rider, but don't worry. I am not going to bring out my chariot, nor am I going to kill you guys right now. After all, what fun would it be if you guys perished so early in the war."

Rider said in a mischievous tone. In other words...

Rin, who was frozen in her place until now snapped in anger, "So, you mean to say that we are not worth taking seriously. Is that right, Rider?!"

"Woah, no need to get so prissy, Oujo-sama. It does not suit your pretty face." The man said, now pointing his sharp gaze at Archer with a mock grin. "Think of it as a test to see if you guys will be worth my time in the future. You see although I have no quarrel with my Master, there's some circumstances surrounding them that have really pissed me off. Unfortunately for you, my friend in red I need to let loose some steam." He said, this time to Archer specifically.

"I'll beat the meaning of a real hero, a true warrior into you."

And, for the second time in three days, the Tohsaka Mansion found itself in a huge mess again, perhaps this time it was going to be destroyed well beyond salvation.

* * *

 **(AN)** Well, it was a pretty lengthy chapter(at least by my standards). I can't promise the lengths of the future chapters, but they'll usually be around 4-6k words in length. Anyway, now that Apocrypha's over, I guess the next one to look forward is Extra Last Encore.


	6. Ruler

**(AN)** The last time I updated, I commentated that Extra Encore was about to start. Now it's at episode 10 xD. Sorry for the late update, but you guys know that life is a bish, and exams were breathing fire down my neck. I appreciate all the reviews I received for the last chapter.

I would like to thank lioncousin for Beta'ing this chapter and also Tsunashi777 for suggesting and helping me with a few points in this chapter. I hope you guys enjoy this chapter, and hope I don't receive too much stick.

* * *

 **(((Finding oneself)))**

The wooden floor creaked under his feet, as the last Uchiha took careful steps into his burnt apartment. He ignored the broken splinters that crunched under his path and the way everything smelled like ash. He promptly made his way to the one thing he had come to acquire which coincidentally was the same thing he dreaded using again.

After having picked up the broom stick that was lying by the door, he slightly tapped the tatami roof above the grandees' burnt carpet, and pushed to the side. An object fell through the crevice onto the floor soon after with a soft 'thud' beside him.

The object was heavily covered in some old torn cloth, and one could just tell how long it had been since the last time it was used just by looking at the cobwebs that seemed to try adding a design to the dull covered cloth.

He grabbed hold of the object by one of its end, and shook it fiercely to rid it of the webs which covered it, before uncovering the blade that was stored in. He impatiently tore the old cloth away, as he sat on one knee.

The sword that was his from another world separated by space and time… the Sword of Kusanagi that has been forgotten by its wielder.

It had a black scabbard and matching hilt and was a little longer than a regular chokuto blade. His expression turned solemn as he stared at the blade in his arms.

 _"I think you shouldn't be so quick to give up on your past…"_

Somebody had told him this once, when he was still getting adjusted to his 'surroundings' ever since he was discharged from the hospital. But, the things that happened while he held this sword and things that were imprinted in his mind when he was with them… things that he shouldn't be forgetting anytime soon.

He never thought he would see the day where he would find the need to use this blade again but, he supposed he would have to considering how dangerous the secret war he found himself participating in was. Especially since one of his enemies had gone after him directly earlier in the day. The last Uchiha knew he would need some sort of edge to fight his battles in case he once again came in contact with direct combat.

Well, it didn't matter as long as he used this blade to achieve his wish as well as the wishes of that person. The person to whom he owed everything to. For having prevented him from taking the wrong path. He admonished himself lightly for even trying to forget and bury what happened back then deep into the wretches of his mind.

He slowly unsheathed the blade from the scabbard to see that it still hadn't rusted over the six months since he last held it. He let out a bitter chuckle as he continued staring at the blade. Despite handling the blade recklessly and without any care or maintenance, the blade still looked as new as when he first used it.

The blade was truly rare and one of a kind in this world. The blood it had spilt, and the battles in which it stood beside him in would forever be a reminder of who he was. Even if he doesn't remember much about his past.

Particles shifted around him, as the golden Lancer materialized beside him with his lethargic gaze, arms folded.

"Did you acquire the object you were looking for, master?"

Sasuke closed his eyes and sheathed the sword. He pushed himself up, and looked at the son of Surya. "Yeah. I found out what I was looking for."

Lancer noted the slight change in the demeanor of his master when he got the sword but didn't ask or point anything out. He simply nodded in response. "Very well, then. We must now move to intercept this servant that the priest informed us about."

Lancer held his concern and doubts regarding trusting the priest since the enemy servant was supposedly considered a completely different class from what you see in regular Holy Grail Wars and a moderator in a Holy Grail War wasn't supposed to do that. It would have been evident regarding the authenticity of the files his master was handed had he been present during the transaction.

He was sure his master knew that as well, and could only hope they weren't making the wrong move here. But, considering the expression his master put on and given their position, it looks like they had no choice but to move forward with it.

"Hn. Let's go."

For now that is.

 **(((Finding oneself)))**

Miyama Town, the suburban town of the Fuyuki City was split into two main parts – the ones with traditional Japanese districts, and the foreigners' on the other side. Emiya residence was located in the northern side along with other Japanese style houses while Sasuke's was an apartment located on the Far East.

The Matou and Tohsaka residence is located in the south side of the Miyama town. Or, at least the Tohsaka residence was located there.

Multiple green flashes coming from within the mansion could be seen, before a pillar of light shot towards the dark sky for a brief moment. A few silent seconds later, as if a tiny spark was enough to break the temporary tranquility, the mansion completely exploded in a huge blast.

Rin, who was protected in Archer's arms as he just leaped away in time could only stare at the flames enveloping her home with anguish and sadness. People may have called it haunted and there may have not been many visitors in the past, but it was still home that contained memories of her younger days when her family was together.

Memories that may be considered normal, or regular for others but to her they were precious. Memories of when she still had her family together – her father, mother and her sister before Sakura was given away, her father dying in the grail war and her mother shortly after.

Blinking away the tears, she steeled herself as Archer stopped on top of a roof, far from her destroyed house and set her down.

"Rin, are you okay?"

The servant clad in red asked, peering at her through his left eye as the right eye was already slashed and done for, with blood from his forehead completely staining half of his face.

Rider was truly a monster. While Archer had his suspicions about the identity of the enemy servant, the recent ineffectiveness of his attacks against Rider proved his case. With a glance at his opponents weapon he had managed decipher the puzzle behind Rider's invincibility and how it was tied to Rider's legend. Yet it still did him little good.

"I am fine, Archer." Rin shook her head and tried to offer a weak smile, but wasn't able to. "These sort of things can happen when you fight in the Holy Grail war. It's just that I was careless and didn't prepare enough for this sort of a frontal attack. It isn't your fault."

Archer stayed silent and decided against offering words of comfort and solace for even he was to blame for being unable to take care of the enemy servant. While he stood here, battered and exhausted, Rider was still probably not out of breath and worse, unharmed.

If anyone in this war could be considered as a hard counter for a fake as him, it was truly Rider. Rider was a true and proud heroic spirit with his skill and prowess equal to Hercules, another renowned Greek hero known to have learnt the sacred arts under the same master Chiron, the son of the Titan Kronos. Not something a mere faker like him could do much against.

...!

And, speak of the devil.

His thirst for blood saturated the air. Archer stood bravely armed with his favored dual swords—Kanshou and Bakuya—despite his condition. Any other normal human would have had their hearts crushed by now, but his master was an exception. She was an exception in many cases and probably her pure rage and anger she held for Rider might have helped her in this case.

Three—and so the countdown began.

The empty and open roofs should give him enough range to fire his arrows. He let the swords dematerialize as his bow materialized in his right hand.

Two—and the air froze in an all-too-familiar way.

He employed the same attack he used against Berserker a night ago, a broken phantasm. The sheer amount of mana would have made sane heroes cautious, but he doubted Rider would feel the need to, for he very much doubted himself in how effective the attack would be. Rider's invulnerability to his attacks didn't seem to be dependent on the power it held.

Then there was the overall position which they resided. In this place, the spear was superior to any other weapon in one aspect: the thrust. With his hero-slaying spear, able to pierce hearts and penetrate skulls with every strike, Rider must probably feel no disadvantage at all.

Nonetheless, Archer dragged the string of his bow back and let it touch the tip of his nose.

One—and time itself seemed to stop before the eruption.

The servant of Bow took careful aim at the flames in the distance, the arrow ready to strike its opponent as soon as he emerged from the flames.

Zero.

All things crude and impure were blown away, swept aside, as a green light dashed with a mock smile from the flames right towards its target as Archer released the knock of his bow with a silent exhale.

The explosion that occurred with the collision could be seen from the complete Miyama district, and the sound would have been heard throughout the complete city.

 **(((Finding oneself)))**

The ground rumbled, as fireworks set off in air. The light set the night city so bright that the only way you could miss it was if you were asleep or were locked away in your home.

She was no exception to this. Ruler, who had dozed off with the Math textbook in her lap had woken up when she sensed two servants clashing in the city, when they were still a good few kilometers away and were yet to reach the city.

She looked towards her side to see the kind doctor—who had offered her a ride—visibly pale peering through the windows as the car moved on the highway. And rightfully so. It was truly rare to see the busy night skies of the city to be suddenly brightened so, or it may be the fact that he realized that it was all due to an explosion and something was wrong.

She may have to use hypnosis on him depending on the situation, and it looked like her judgement was really becoming necessary in this war. The servants were fighting without restraint and innocents may be getting dragged into it.

There may not have been many casualties yet, but there were going to be if this were to continue as it has been going on till now.

She was pondering on her choices and courses when an alarm went off in her mind.

"Stop the car here!"

The car was screeched to a sudden halt by the driver as the doctor looked perplexed.

"I-Is something wrong?"

She met the unsure and muddled expression of the doctor as she shook her head.

"Please wait until morning before driving again. I saw a motel a few miles back." She got off in haste as the frowning old man got after her. "I know it doesn't suit your standards…" Motioning to the black limousine with her hands before resting them in front of her.

"What are you…?!"

She bowed her head down. "The night is dangerous as of now and will only get more dangerous in the city. Please!"

The doctor stared hard at her for a few seconds before sighing, "What about you then?"

"It's alright. I'll walk from here."

The old man stared at her for a few more moments before resigning himself, "Can I persuade you to come with me in anyway?"

"I am afraid it is not possible."

Ruler could only offer an apologetic smile in return.

"Fine then. Driver, hand over her luggage." He ordered as the driver promptly nodded and did as told. "I won't pry, but it looks like it is important to you and you must have a strong reason to go alone now. Be careful out there."

Ruler offered another smile and an apology as she waved them off, as the car set off in the direction they came. Taking a deep breath, she ran ahead with full speed with the luggage in her hand. Perhaps a boundary field had already been set up as she couldn't any other presence of cars on the highway.

After advancing few kilometers ahead, she put her bag down, immediately transforming into her battle-dress proper armor woven from her prana. She sensed a few familiars in the area, stationed at different locations.

What was surprising was that they belonged to the same user. Perhaps, they wished to see the oncoming battle from their location.

The situation was more dire than she first assumed…

"There's no use in trying to conceal your presence." Ruler shouted, looking up ahead at the empty highway. "Come on out!"

"Ho, I guess you aren't a Ruler for nothing."

She heard a voice, as golden particles shook and a lean figure materialized in a seated position, kneeling on one knee atop a giant motorway sign. She looked up to see a white haired man staring at her with a bored expression. His gaze was as sharp as a steel blade, and the red stone buried in his exposed chest similarly projected an enthralling lustrousness.

 _'He is dangerous! This servant is dangerous beyond compare!'_

His entire body consisted of a set of golden armor that gave off divine radiance. Judging by the way his eyes glanced at the nearest familiar on the top of a lamp post beside them, it looked like the familiars did not belong to his master.

Hmm, now it made her curious.

His eyes then turned back towards her, as Ruler watched him without lowering her guard in the slightest.

"You are Lancer summoned in this war… son of Surya, Karna correct?"

"Oh? Sounds like the priest wasn't bluffing after all."

The man raised his eyebrows at that and sounded intrigued.

But the words he spoke of… he said a priest. He must be speaking of the overseer assigned from the church that usually oversees the Holy Grail war and would have still had she not been summoned.

Could it be that the priest was upset, and sent Lancer after her by somehow persuading his master? It was a definite possibility but nothing could be said as of now.

"Lancer, what are you doing here?"

The question was enough to make the young man stand up. "I should be asking that, Ruler. Or, would you prefer to be called by your true name—Holy Maiden of Orleans."

Now that surprised her. This confirmed it. The church was clearly behind this, and it looked like they arranged for a Servant to take her out. But why? What could be their reason to even want to get rid of her?

"No, it is you and your Master who are unwise. What can come of killing me at this stage?"

"I do not know."

Lancer's brief reply utterly rejected all attempts at communication. He continued.

"But it has been suggested to my master that you are an oddity that Caster's master summoned in his final breath, giving his life in exchange for summoning you as a demi-servant. And, thus it is commanded of me that you die here. That is all—I act simply according to the contract."

His Noble Phantasm appeared in his hands, as golden light pierced through the still air near his right wrist. Ruler instantly recognized the weapon as Lancer's Noble Phantasm and what could only be described as a weapon granted by the gods.

"Here I come, Ruler."

The lance that he held was instantly covered in blazing flames, almost white in color.

"While I would have liked to have a duel in a more honorable fashion, it seems that I am at least lucky that we get to exchange our names. I'll be taking your head, Oh Maiden of Orleans!"

While clad in flames, Lancer immediately plunged forward and it took all Ruler had to evade that first attack.

While she was able to save herself by the scruff of her neck, it looked like she wasn't able to save her luggage as it was completely blown out of proportions as Lancer came to a halt with the dust and clamps flying in the air around him.

"Hmph, you managed to evade my blow. Let's see if you're skilled or lucky enough to continue to do so."

Lancer spoke in an unamused fashion, as he turned and immediately charged at her and pushed her back with his multiple thrusts justifying his class's reputation. He thrust his golden pole in a swift motion at her, making ten strikes within a couple of seconds giving her no break, with four of his attacks managing to scratch her as she parried his blows. She used the flag to deflect the last attack directly aimed for her head with great difficulty and jumped back putting some distance between them.

She panted, as she held her weapon in her right arm, observing as Lancer just stared at her with a monotone expression. Her flag that fluttered in the wind was a first‐rate holy weapon that could smash any kind of darkness but in the end it couldn't compare with Lancer's own divine spear.

Lancer was strong. She knew of his legend, If he had used his true Noble Phantasm right at the start, the battle would have been over already. The fact he didn't meant that, it was either too taxing to use or he just didn't believe she was worthy of his most powerful attack.

Jeanne couldn't help but worry as she kept her eyes on the golden lancer. She knew this wasn't an enemy that she could defeat under these conditions.

 _'But, it seems like he doesn't know about my privileges, or he might be waiting for me to exercise them. In any case…'_

"It's a pity." Lancer straightened, flames enveloped his form again but this gave her enough chance to exercise her privileges.

The greatest privilege of the Ruler class; Command Spells. This was the greatest reason that Ruler could act as a mediator. Ruler possessed two Command Spells for every servant. It was only natural that masters would want to try to get her on their side, or have her eliminated since she was too great a force and would tip the balance heavily if she were to ally herself with anyone.

Lancer was quick, but Ruler was quicker and efficient in this particular instance with her quick wording.

"In the name of Ruler—I Jeanne d'Arc. By my Command Spell order Lancer, to cease using his divine spear at once!"

The Command Spells engraved onto her back burned releasing an intense light as she noted Lancer's weapon vanish from his hands against his will as he screeched to a halt a few meters away from her. A chain of commandments coiled around his neck.

"Give it up, Lancer. You cannot use your weapon against me. Return to your master, son of Surya. I don't know why you and your master have chosen to attack me, but know that I am merely here to maintain order during this Holy Grail War."

Lancer merely stared at his empty hands in mild amusement and muttered,

"So, this is the privileges held by the Ruler class. It seems that I really cannot underestimate you." The look that Lancer gave to Ruler held no worries, and that put her on edge. The grip she held around her banner tightened in preparation for any sudden movements.

"It doesn't matter what you're role in this Grail War is, but as long as my master's orders remain unchanged then I shall fight."

Alarms blared in Ruler's body as a surge of prana gathered around the weaponless Lancer. She could feel that her command spell was still in effect, and that Lancer's Master hasn't used a Command spell to cancel her own.

That meant…

"Many heroes may be restricted to their weapons." The sun demigod covered his right eye as his gaze turned towards the ground, the surge of prana began to focus on one specific point. "Not I. A true hero kills with his eyes."

"Lancer!"

Ruler knew of Karna's legend, and having sealed his ability to use his spear should have prevented him from using his strongest Noble Phantasm, but he's not worried in the slightest. She was unaware as to what the demigod may be planning but she couldn't take any chances against a hero of his caliber.

Bracing herself, she planted her flag into the road, letting it bellow in the wind. The banner began to hum with a soft golden glow as prana also began to swell up near her. She tightly grasped her flag with both hands and called forth its true name.

"Oh my banner, defend my brethren… "

"O Brahma, Cover the Earth… "

 **"Luminosité Eternelle!"**

 **"Brahmastra!"**

 **(((Finding oneself)))**

The man was a tempest. He was invincible.

He was all but laughing as he fought Archer on the rooftop. He still looked completely untouched, but the same couldn't be said about his clothes and armor courtesy of Archer's relentless attacks.

Archer's style of fighting was made for combatting opponents such as Rider. Where his opponents were, faster, and stronger than he was. However, all it managed to do was keep him alive. The married blades he wielded attacked his opponent from two sides.

Yet Rider paid it no mind and charged in, meeting it head on as he curled his body and leapt, using his lance to deflect the blades splendidly.

"Weak!"

At nearly the same time, he launched a kick. He fought not with the formality of a knight, but martial skill honed utterly on the field of battle. The efficiency of a killer.

A couple of red pellets were blasted at him, which he dodged by merely tilting his head and did not even bother looking at the attacker. Rin clicked her tongue in displeasure.

Rider did not seem to pay her much attention as he clashed with Archer once again.

Archer had a look of displeasure plastered on his own face for quite some time now. There was not a single wound on Rider, and his attacks were being nullified, but at least he has managed to keep himself from suffering any major wounds of his own. For how long could he keep this up?

He quickly bent low at the thrust from Rider before trying to slash Kanshou at Rider's left heel only for him to be launched away with a swift kick to his center. With a grunt of pain, Archer rubbed his chest area as he scowled at Rider.

"Woah, careful there. It looks like you have already determined my true name." Rider put on a face, but Archer could clearly see that Achilles was in fact happy that he was found out.

"With the way you are targeting my heel, you must be quite the shrew to find me out so quickly. I'm honestly curious how you managed it so fast."

"You flatter me too much, Rider. Your history is famous throughout the world and there are very few individuals that could match your speed and agility in a battle."

"Heh, that sounds like music to my ears. And, you're no exception." Rider relaxed his hold on the spear a bit. "What kind of a heroic spirit are you? I have never met any Heroic Spirit that could wield both a bow and dual blades in such a unique fashion. Not to mention that you seem to have a lot of those pesky things. I've started losing track of the amount of times I disarmed you."

"It doesn't matter. You on the other hand are easily identifiable, the invincible hero from the Trojan War."

"You got me, then I guess you wouldn't mind if I started to take you more seriously then, Archer?"

The grip that Rider held on the spear tightened as Archer looked with a calm expression despite the injuries he suffered till now.

"I won't stop you. You are an enemy I must eventually overcome in this war."

Archer declared calmly, bearing the two swords in front of him.

 _'This is bad…!'_ Rin furrowed her eyebrows. She knew they couldn't defeat Rider as they are now, not without any strategy and planning. She knew if the battle dragged on any longer, then Archer would surely be defeated as much as she hated to admit.

Just as Rider was about to pounce on them like a predator about to finish its prey, a bright wall of flame completely brightened the unforgiving night, causing them to momentarily stop their battle. They looked towards the west to see bright wall of flames that held the appearance of a beam getting diffracted around a point. Both heroes were able to discern the power behind that attack

Thankfully, the other battle looked like it was happening outside the city and the direction in which the attack went was away from the city.

As the bright wall of flames died down after awhile, a low whistle was heard from the Greek hero.

They turned towards Rider to see that he had withdrawn from his attacking stance to a more relaxed one.

"Whoever managed that attack may be an adversary worth fighting. This war just got a whole lot more interesting." He stated looking as the remnants of the blast disappeared into the night sky, before returning his attention back to Archer and his Master. "Well, I guess that is my cue to leave. My bummer of a master caught whiff of my absence and is ordering me back."

"So, you are running away, Rider?"

Rider only laughed at Archer's question. "Not running away. Letting you guys live for another day." He turned completely and walked to the edge of the roof, before turning one last time at them. "And, pray hope that you do not face me again. I'll be taking my leave then, Oujo-sama."

He bowed his head at Rin as he got onto the ledge before jumping off the roof. Tohsaka ran and hurried to the edge of the roof. She bent her head over the ledge, and looked down to observe that Rider had already dematerialized and there was no trace of him left.

"I guess it would have been too much to hope to witness him falling to his death." Rin lightly joked, looking back as Archer slumped down with a heavy sigh.

"Rin, put off fighting Servants for a couple of days." Archer said weakly, letting the blades dematerialize as Rin got near him and wordlessly began the healing magic. "My body won't take another fight as of now."

Rin could only offer a smile and nodded at her Servant. "I understand, Archer. You did great."

Archer only groaned tiredly at that and looked away.

 **(((Finding oneself)))**

Brahmastra was the noble phantasm granted to Karna by his master 'Parashurama' of the Brahmins. This Noble Phantasm was strong, and was called upon by the name of 'Brahma' and, it would surely pursue the enemy and attack with a wide-effective range.

Avoiding that attack was impossible. But—the one receiving that attack was the absolute mediator of the Holy Grail War, Ruler. The attack's direction may have been away from the city, but it had a wide blast range. There was a chance that the doctor and his driver could get caught in the blast, and plus the beam from his eye was like a guided missile.

Her only option was to fight the laser beam from Lancer head-on by activating her flag.

The flag that the saint Jeanne d'Arc had kept in place of a sword. That flag, which inspired and uplifted the soldiers who followed her believing that a saint walked amongst them, was said to have continued to protect this female saint who always ran ahead as the vanguard.

And when this holy banner was activated as a Noble Phantasm, it converted Jeanne's EX rank Magic resistance into a protection against all physical and spiritual harm.

She put strength into both her hands. Stifling her anguish and simply looked forward unyielding—Ruler simply endured the explosive maelstrom of burning fire. For anyone observing from far, it would look like someone who opposed the heavens, refusing to be burnt by those sacred flames.

Minor burns started forming on her pale skin, the damage she was taking was being transferred to her flag, causing it to tear from within. And, to think that all she was doing was trying to withstand this, which was nothing but a weaker version of Brahmastra.

Had Lancer been allowed to use his other Noble Phantasm, his hidden trump card which was a more powerful version of Brahmastra or even worse the weapon he was given by Indra, she was sure that even her primary noble phantasm couldn't do much to save her. Even this would have incurred a lot of damage to her had she not chosen to deflect it at the last moment.

When the potent light had finally died down, Ruler sighed tiredly and in relief. But, it seemed like fate had other plans as no sooner she began to breathe a little and relaxed herself, her ears picked up distinctive chirping sound behind her back.

She turned back in time to see a raven haired teen thrusting a blade coated in blue lightning at her. She flicked her right arm, just getting back her flag in time to deflect it, but the teen snuck past her defenses as if he had somehow predicted this.

Amethyst eyes were completely drowned by red ones the moment she had drawn her flag to defend, as she felt a powerful tug at her conscious despite the magic resistance of a Ruler class. She somehow tried to fight it, only for the teen to swiftly deal a blow to her neck with precision and force above that of an average magus.

Her battered body went limp, as the teen caught her from falling forward, not before listening to his silent yet cold voice.

"Lancer, take care of our surroundings."

No sooner than she heard these words, a bright hot light seemed to lift off above their heads like a miniature sun had been spawned by the teens command.

"So... you are the master of Lancer...?" Her voice was enervated, but she was sure he heard it. Her brain froze as realization slowly dawned on how he managed to get a jump on her. And, why she wasn't able to sense him approach until it was too late.

"Y-You were betting on your enemy to block Lancer's attack right from the start...!"

The teen had an impassive look as he bent his head down to look at her, the scarlet fire consuming everything in the background, but not harming a single strand of his hair and hers now that she was being held in his arms. The only spot that seemed safe in the area was the place that the raven haired teen crouched by.

The three tomoe in his eyes spun, bearing into her own as his lips parted, voice barely audible and as silent as a whisper.

"Sleep."

Those were the last words she heard as she saw the teens lips quirked slightly upwards, as her vision blackened.

..

The only area that remained untouched was a foot distance to the either side of the last Uchiha. The whole area within the radius of up to a couple hundreds meters was burnt away to nothing. Normally this would have been too taxing on his master if he had used prana burst of this magnitude right after activating his Noble Phantasm. But, it didn't seem to negatively impact his young master as much as he thought it would have.

The cement road, the highway posts, the road signs and street lamps were all reduced to cinders. The scene looked as if the flame god Agni had descended upon the earth. A stream of fire had formed around the area as Lancer landed upon the bare ground with the grace of the divine.

"Are all the familiars in the area accounted for?"

Lancer looked at his master and gave a wordless nod, who was now busy holding the unconscious body of the Ruler with some exhaustion to show. So his master was just hiding his exhaustion? Still, he was holding up a lot better than what was expected, which put Karna at ease.

While he had his suspicions that Ruler was actually summoned with no master of her own and that the file was feeding them with half lies, she was too dangerous an existence if she decided to side with any of the masters. His master understood that, and it seemed the church was aware of this too. Perhaps they came up with this scheme for fairness and equality among the masters. Or, it could be for some other purpose.

His master had other ideas though. He did not know what the dark haired teen planned for the Ruler, but instead of having her killed here, it seems his master decided to use her in some other way. Well, he supposed that was also one form of a tactic employed in warfare.

But, still Karna had to applaud his master here for even coming up with such a plan. It surprised Karna a bit on how tactful his master turned out to be and was honestly impressed with the planning he came up with what limited information they had. Once again his master has impressed him.

They stood in silence for a few moments when their peace was disturbed with a honk which most likely belonged to a car. The last Uchiha exhaled a huff of annoyance before looking at his servant.

"Why would someone even wish to head in this direction and jump into this mess?"

Which was true considering the whole light show that just happened. Anyone sane would probably keep their distance from this area for at least a week. The car honked again, as he began observing headlights in distance, the car showing no signs of slowing down.

"Well, all this is supposed to be kept a secret from public after all. I guess it can't be helped." He sighed, running his hands through his hair before looking at the Lancer with a reserved sigh. "Karna, finish them. We can't leave any witnesses behind after all."

"Understood."

Immediately when those words left the Lancer's mouth, he held his spear out to finish the one and only witness related to this incident.

"No, wait Karna! Hold on for a second."

As Karna got into position to attack, he abruptly stopped his preparations due to his master's sudden outburst. Sasuke got up, setting Ruler gently down near Karna something that wasn't missed by the demi-god, and took a few steps forward.

Sasuke furrowed his eyebrows and narrowed his eyes trying to figure out the vehicle which felt oddly familiar to him with his gifted vision. His eyes widened slightly a second later, before closing them in exasperation with his eyes turning back to normal.

The car honked again as it skidded to a halt a few meters ahead of them.

"Well, I did not expect this," the last Uchiha deadpanned when he noticed the black limousine. There was only one person in the city currently who could afford such an expensive car and dash right into this mess without a single care.

Two figures rushed out of the car with worn-out expressions. When one of them considered the Sasuke's presence, their expression changed to a mix of shock and worry. "S-Sasuke-kun? What are you doing here? And, what is going on?"

Karna only merely stood afar from the scene before him, doubts lingering in his mind as to who the old man was when he saw his master slowly walk towards the old man.

"Only you would actively head towards a war zone."

The raven haired teen sighed as he concentrated his gaze at the man who so foolishly arrived.

"It's been awhile, doc."

* * *

 **(AN)** So, apparently Ruler can still fall for illusionary techniques like she did with Jack, and what plans does our favorite avenger have in his mind for kidnapping her? Perhaps something kinky... Few points were left unexplained in this chapter on purpose, and I hope to cover them in the future updates. Hopefully, I can get the next update a lot faster.


End file.
